Only Once, I wish
by Yui-Mag
Summary: A fic to all girls who've experienced that painful time of the month and had to deal with idiot boys who didn't understand. Well what if Akari made a wish for one of them to experience it, and what if that wish came true? Poor Hikaru... and Poor Touya who
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer- I don't own these characters!!! And this is a silly fic! So enjoy!!!

Only Once,

                I wish…

                It all started when Hikaru actually took a break from Go and went to hang out with his childhood friend, Akari. Akari had sounded normal enough when he'd talked to her on the phone the night before so Hikaru wasn't at all prepared to see her pale and pained face when he knocked on her door. 

                "Hi Hikaru…" Her voice was barely over a whisper. "Come on in. I'll only be a minute." And with that she left him to close the door behind himself, more than a bit startled. 

                "A-are you ok?" He called after her with a bit of a stutter. 

                "Yeah." Akira answered after finishing a glass of water. "I'll be just fine!" She drawled out, quite out of character. He had never seen her like this! She grabbed her coat, apparently ignoring his dumbfounded and slightly worried looks. "We can go now." The redhead opened the door and led the way out. She only paused when they reached the streets to stare at him with her big brown eyes. "Where to, Hikaru?"

                "Uh…I… well…" He scratched his head. "What would you like to do?" Hikaru brushed his blond bangs from his face. "I'm free fo—" He trailed off and blanched as a familiar figure came marching towards him. "Oh no! I forgot to tell Touya that I wasn't going to meet him today! Akari I…" He wanted to make himself very small as his eternal rival continued to come nearer. His plea for help trailed off to nothing and soon he found himself facing Touya's serious clear green eyes. 

"Hello." He nodded to Hikaru and Akari alike. "You forgot this at my father's go salon. Since you were late…" The polite voice became a tad steely. "I decided I would drop it off at your house. Your mother though insisted that I try to catch you…"  The backpack that Hikaru usually carried around him was shoved in the air between them. "Have a good day." 

"Aah… uh… thanks Touya. I'm sorry I forgot to tell you that I had decided to take a day off." Hikaru tried to apologize. The taller boy sighed and it was obvious to Akari, even through her pain, that the other go player was used to hearing such excuses from her forgetful friend. 

"It was my fault." She whispered softly. "I asked him to take me around…" She gasped a stab of pain ran through her, darkening her vision. She didn't even realize that she had been falling until strong arms caught her and steadied her without letting go. There was a yelp of surprise and of worry. Hikaru. There was the low voice, snapping directions. Touya. "Go-gomen." She tried to say. The pain was clearing up a bit. Oh how she had wished the pain killer would take action soon. Touya shushed her and bent slightly down before picking her up. And then they were moving. "I'll be fine… I will…" She tried again and was glared at. Now she knew why Hikaru always complained that he could never say no to Touya. His eyes… She closed her own. The spirit behind the dark green eyes was so strong. Too…strong…She hissed as pain came again, and like too strong of a wave to fight against, the darkness this time did take her in fully. 

Hikaru was near panicking as he saw Akari become even paler than she had been and fall forward. He was thankful that Touya had been there. He'd felt frozen as he'd watch her fall. Later, he knew, much later, he would recall Touya's face of pure surprise and find it amusing. He didn't think he remembered ever seeing his eternal rival blush and look worried at the same time. But for now, Hikaru ran back to Akari's house and opened the door, calling out for Akari's parents. Silence greeted him and he cursed. Of course! Whenever you needed adults they were gone! He cursed again but was brought up short as Touya came in, holding Akari to his chest. 

"Where can I put her?" He sounded just a tad strained. 

"The couches I guess." He shook his head to indicate the direction of the couches. "The parents aren't home."

"She's fainted Shindo." Touya muttered, placing the girl gently down. He brushed aside the red strands of hair that was in her face before placing his full hand on her forehead. "Slight fever." He got up. "Did she tell you she was sick?" 

"NO!" Hikaru shook his head vehemently. "She said she was fine. And you know girls…" He paused. Maybe Touya didn't… oh well there was that one lady who followed him everywhere from that Go Salon. "…usually they make a big deal out of something if they're in pain." Touya arched an eyebrow at that. "Well _she_ does." Hikaru snorted. "Believe me." He paused for a bit. "Touya what should we do?" The voice of his eternal rival was suddenly very worried. Touya sighed. So much for just giving Shindo his bag and making him guilty for being late once again and then just leaving to go study. No. No… nothing could ever be _that _simple around the boy. He shook his head and turned to look at Shindo's friend…girlfriend? He bit his lip. 

"Call the doctor, I suppose." He looked around. "Do you know where it is? She'd probably prefer to have you close when she wakes up rather than a stranger." Shindo cocked his head to the side making a face. 

                "You're no stranger but the phone is… in that room I think." He pointed to a room across the hallway and Touya nodded. "Should I do anything in the meantime?"  He started to walk away when a hand snatched at his sleeve. 

                "No… need…" The voice was soft. 

                "Akari you're awake! You scared me!" Hikaru bounded to her side while Touya stared at the hand holding him back with a perplexed expression. "Are you all right? What's wrong with you?" The girl tried to smile for her friend but it ended as a grimace instead. 

                "This happens every month, baka." The two boys blinked than blinked again before her words dawned on them. 

                "Oh." Touya finally muttered, polite as always as Hikaru just shook his head, hands coming to cover his ears as he became pale. 

                "That again." The boy moaned. "You could have warned me! You girls…"  Akari wasn't really listening to her friend though. She was curling up to her side and hoping, hoping that the pain would ease to be something bearable soon. 

                "I wish…" She whispered through Hikaru's rant. "Only once, I wish that boys would know… exactly what it's like to be like this…how painful it is…" Her eyes fluttered to a close again and she never even realized that this time, she wasn't the only one that the darkness took in its hold.

A/N- I'm sorry… It's short.

The next chapter is on its way. I promise. 

Hope you enjoyed this one. 


	2. Ch 1

Ch.1

                Hikaru opened his eyes to see Touya's green ones looking at him with startled fear. 

                "Are you all right?" The boy asked, his voice thick and weird sounding. Hikaru wanted to say yes without thinking but he didn't. Instead he looked around, wondering why he was on the floor all of sudden. Hadn't he been talking to Akari… telling her that she should have been warning him about that… Akari. Akari hadn't been feeling good. Akari had fainted. He sat up straight fast and found himself suddenly clutching at Touya's shoulder to keep from falling back. 

                "Oh… that hurt!" He groaned… except it wasn't his voice. It was strange. Softer for one, a bit higher pitched for another. "What happened?" He opened his eyes again to see Touya blushing and looking at him open mouthed. Very unlike Touya. 

                "I…have no idea." He finally stated. "How are you feeling, Shindo?"

                "My head hurts." He answered. "How's Akari? She wasn't feeling well either." 

                "Oo-kay." Touya sighed and wished he could sit back but the hands that were holding onto him wouldn't allow for that. "Are you sure that's all that hurts?" He asked, trying to keep his voice from sounding hysterical. Apparently it worked somewhat since his rival just looked confused and then irritated. 

                "No." Hikaru started tartly. "If it had I would have told you." Why was he still holding onto Touya? And why was the other boy allowing it? "You're not answering my questions!" Damn… was that really his voice?  "Is that really how I sound?" Touya blinked.

                "Yes… for the moment it is. I hope." Well that was cryptic. "Can you sit by yourself?" He watched his rival carefully and then helped Shindo peel away his cramped fingers on his shirt. "Good… good. I think A-akari should explain what happened. I'm still a bit lost myself." 

                "Oh? Is she ok then?" Hikaru asked, allowing himself to be gently maneuvered into the couch. Hadn't Akari been laying there? God his head hurt. "Quit staring at me like that!" He snapped as he found his eyes focusing on Touya's green ones again. 

                "S-Sorry." Again… blushing. "Her painkillers kicked in a few minutes after you blacked out." Touya was looking at the ground. "She went to get water or ice to see if we could wake you up." 

                "I blacked out?" That hadn't happened since the arrival of Sai. He looked around himself with hope in his eyes but the friendly spirit was definitely nowhere to be found. He sighed. "You guys didn't call the doctor did you?"

                "No." The word was said quickly. 

                "Oh good. That's the last thing I need." 

…

                Akira didn't know whether he wanted to scream or to start laughing as he continued to stare at the carpeted floor. His rival… was a… a… girl? Oh god. He bit his lip and tightened his hands into fists. 

And Shindo was oblivious of the fact. The boy… argh… girl was always oblivious. But for this one time, he was thankful for it. He did not want to deal with a hysterical Shindo by himself and he had a pretty good feeling that he would be soon if Akari didn't come back. He found himself staring at Shindo's face again without meaning to and had to jerk his head the other way. "Maybe I should go check on Akari-chan." He found himself saying softly. 

                "Hmm…Tell her to bring aspirin as well." He nodded and as he got up, he heard the other whisper, "god… why must people be sooo weird." If only he knew. His heart had stopped beating for a moment when Akari and Shindo had fainted at the same time. And then to have felt his rival's body transform into a girl in his arms after he had caught him/her… His heart had stopped again. He had dropped Shindo, which probably explained the headache the other had. But he couldn't have helped it. It had been too much. 

Nothing…

Nothing was ever simple with that boy… girl.

Nothing.

                "I got the ice… Is he…Hikaru you're awake!" Akari ran, the ice falling to the ground as she lunged herself at her friend. 

                "Oof! Get off of me Akari! That hurt!" And then… "Hey… why are you crying? Hey stop! Stop! Touya, help Why is she…!" 

                "Oh Hikaru, I'm so sorry." The girl sobbed. "I'm so sorry. It's all my fault. I didn't mean to make that stupid wish. If I'd known… I mean… it was just a silly wish… I didn't know…that… I didn't know you'd be the one to turn into a girl!" Akira winced. That was not the way to handle _that_. The only noise in the room was her sobbing, Shindo's frantic tries to comfort and get the girl off of him… her had died with that statement. 

                "A… girl?" The voice croaked. "A girl?" 

                "Shindo…" Akira started gently. He brought his hands up in a motion of peace. "…we'll figure something out." 

                "A GIRL?" The scream echoed in the room and Akari's sobs strengthened. The girl was pushed aside as Shindo jumped up, apparently her headache had been forgotten. "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!?"

                "Shindo don't…" There was a strangled scream as Shindo grabbed his own breast. "…" Akira was at a loss for words. The hysteria that had been gnawing at him was growing. 

                "…ohmygodohmygodohmygod…OH MY GOD! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!" 

…

An hour later saw the three teens staring at each other with strained faces with two of them that were tear stained. A lot of wishing had been done after the first wish to turn Hikaru back into a boy but not one had caused any change. Shindo, Hikaru was still a girl. One with wide green eyes and fine tanned skin. The hair that had been chin length had grown a bit, until the tips touched the girl's fine shoulders that at the moment were hunched over as if to hide the growth of a new and unwelcome chest. The waist had thinned out and the hips had grown a tad bigger. At the constant sight of a _girl_ Shindo, Touya had finally had his little fit of hysteria and had for a small time removed himself from the two friends, locking himself into a nearby bathroom until the fit passed. Now though… they needed to be serious.

"What am I going to do?" Hikaru thought he was going to cry again, as if crying the first time hadn't been bad enough. He… he…The girl with blond bangs shook her head and clenched at her too baggy shorts until her whole small frame shook. "I can't go home like this! My parents would flip!" Then there was a louder more scared moan. "What if I'm stuck like this forever?!"  Touya pressed his knuckles deep into the sides of his head. God… if only he'd stayed in bed this morning. 

"My parents are gone for the week. A Go match in China. You can stay there and tell your mother you need to practice for an upcoming Go Match." Hikaru's eyes got wider and her lower lip started to tremble. "Oh don't do that…" 

"What?" Hikaru snarled then. She sniffed loudly and used the back of her hand to wipe her nose and face, eliciting little noises of disgust from the other two. She acted as if she didn't hear them at all and then another pained look spasmed on that face. "Oh god… Touya… how am I gonna attend any of my Go matches?" Akari looked shyly at her friend. 

"You could call in sick."

"I can't do that!" Hikaru yelped in dismay at the same time as Touya muttered his own "He can't do that!"  Akari looked at them wide eyed. 

"Or he could bind hi…her chest." The two blinked at Akari. 

"You can do that?" Hikaru asked then without waiting for an answer he continued. "But that means I can just bind my chest now and go home and act as if everything's ok!!!I mean… after I get a haircut and everything."

"And after you learn how to lower your voice." Touya added. "You sound…" He stopped short and glared back at his rival who was glaring at him. 

"Ano..." Akari cut in. "Hikaru if I were you I wouldn't do that! Binding hurts! And anyway… what if your mom walks in on you when you're taking a bath or something…" That made Hikaru blush prettily and shake her head. 

"I get it. I get it… oh man…" She shook her head. "Why do these kind of things always happen to me?!" The girl exclaimed. Touya blinked. 

"Because turning into a girl is a natural occurrence for you, Shindo?" The slightly tart question was met with giggling from Akari and a glare from Hikaru who then stuck her tongue out at her rival. "Very mature." Touya muttered. He sighed. "We might as well get you clothes from home now and tell your mother you won't be back for some time. And then…"

"Haircut. Yes. I know." Hikaru waved his hand. 

"You might want some girl clothes too Hikaru. I mean… cause… well…You're hanging out!" Akari sputtered finally. 

"Excuse me?" Touya asked, almost afraid to inquire. _He_'d kept his eyes focused _only_ on Shindo's face and was now suddenly glad for it. 

"Hanging out? What do you mean by that? I'm fully clothed!" Hikaru nearly shrieked. "Akari, there is no way in hell that I'm going to wearing girl's clothes. This is bad enough!"

"But-but Hikaru! You can't go out on the streets without a bra!" Akari wailed. "It'll show!"  

"I'm not hearing this." Touya whispered tiredly. "I am not listening to this conversation." 

"A bra?!" Hikaru shrieked again. "NO! I refuse!" 

"Hikaruuuu!!!" Akari was adding to the noise level, her face pained. They went back and forth for awhile like that as Touya started to massage his temples, eyes closed. 

"Enough!" Finally, Touya snapped, his hands slapping the ground palms flat out. The sharpness of his voice cut through the screaming match between Hikaru and Akari, causing the two of them to sit back down with shocked looks on their faces. "Akari-chan, please… get what you think is necessary for Shindo to go outside. Shindo-…if you do not want to wear them, then don't. I don't care. You are the one who will have to deal with people looking at you." He took in a deep breath. "I'm guessing that we don't have too much time until your parents come home, Akari-chan…" He glared at Hikaru, daring the other to say something. "So we should probably be on our way." And since it was only pure logic that Touya was using the two were left to do as he had 'suggested', Hikaru grumbling the entire time. 'Damn… I really should have stayed in bed, today.' Came the thought again but this time it wasn't just Touya's… it was Hikaru's and Akari's as well.

A/N- My never ending stupidity and randomness has reached new levels. Grins. But its fun that way and… I know I'm exaggerating a bit on the pain that Akari felt in the first chapter, it's a humorous fic! Plus its based off of anime where characters faint from getting colds, I hope the exaggeration won't bother people too much. I hope you're enjoying the fic even if it is weird. 


	3. Ch 2 In which Waya comes along

Ch.2

                Finally something was being done. Akari had already come back from her quick little visit to Shindo's house with a bag full of clothes. She'd also already informed Mrs. Shindo that Shindo wouldn't be coming home for awhile, needing to study Go. Akira sighed. At least that part had gone ok. 

                Now all that needed to be done was to get Shindo a haircut and to turn the girl back into a boy. Again the headache that had been plaguing him throbbed at his temple and Akira let his hand rise to rub it away. 

                "Ne Touya…" Shindo started, looking at him a bit weirdly. "Are you all right?" 

                "Fine." Akira muttered his hand dropping to his side. He hadn't even realized that he had stopped walking. "And you?" He asked finally as the two resumed walking in search to find a hair dresser. Akari had decided, after some debating, that she should stay home and rest. Pain killers only lasted for so long after all. And who knew what other wishes that girl might make if her pain were to awaken once more. Movement caught his eye. "You should stop fiddling with that, Shindo." Grey-green eyes glared at him. 

                "It itches. You'd fiddle with it too." But Shindo let her hand drop back to her side as well, leaving the bra strap that was digging into her side alone. "This sucks." She sighed and pushed her hair behind her one ear. Akira didn't see much point in adding to that comment and so he stayed quiet.

                The next hour, saw the two walking in the opposite direction than they had come from, heading for Akira's house. 

                "This really _really_ sucks." Shindo complained, her higher pitched voice grating Akira's nerves. "I can't believe a trim cost that much! Argh and this stupid bra! The minute I'm in your house Touya… it's coming off! I don't…mmph!!" Akira's hand was blocking the rest of the words out. 

                "BAKA!" He hissed in his eternal rival's ear. "Are you insane?! We're outside Shindo!" His face was red and he knew it. Whether it was from anger that his rival could be so stupid or from embarrassment at the shocked looks they were getting from random passerby, he didn't know and at the moment could quite say that he didn't care. The sooner they got to his house, the better. 

                "MMMPH!" Came Shindo's indignant reply, her own cheeks becoming red. Akira removed his hand, grabbing her elbow instead. 

                "Come on." 

                "TOUYA! That hurt! You didn't have to be so, so…" The words trailed off and Akira's hand was shaken off. There was a little eep sound that Akira was sure he'd never heard his rival ever make before. Or another human being at that. And then the girl was hidden behind his back, face pressing into his clothing and making him stop walking. 

                "What are you…?!" 

                "Touya?" Another voice cut him off. A very familiar voice. "Is that Shindo who's with you?" Waya. Akira gritted his teeth. Oh what a day.

                "Last time I checked, Shindo was not a girl." He said as politely as he could and was elbowed from behind. "This is my friend…" He paused, trying to think up of a good name. His mind blanked. "She's shy." He finished lamely as Waya nodded his head slowly. 

                "I can see that." The redhead muttered, hands digging into his jean pockets. His face still held confusion.  He came closer and peered over Akira's shoulder before he could do anything. Not that he could have done anything really without either stepping on Shindo or just running away.  "_She_ has Shindo's hair." Waya snapped. "What the hell is going on?"  Oh boy.

…

                At the sound of Waya's voice, Hikaru's heart jumped up to her throat and stayed there making it hard to breath. It was bad enough that Touya already saw her like this but if Waya saw her like this… She would never be able to live it down. So she did what came first into her mind and that was to hide. She buried her face in Touya's clothes, using his body as a shield. For once, she was glad for the fact that Touya was taller than her. But even with him as her shield it wasn't enough. She cursed Waya for his curiosity and Touya for his bad lying abilities. 

                "What is going on?" Waya asked again. "Shindo. I know that's you!"

                "Like I said before," Touya stated calmly. "I don't think Shindo is a girl." She wanted to hit him. Both of them actually. Waya ignored Touya and was about to shove the other go player away but Hikaru decided that she might as well give up trying to hide at that point. She let go of Touya's shoulders and stepped out. He hoped his own acting skills would be a bit more believable than Touya's had been. She suddenly wished she had changed into some of Akari's clothes. Now, stuck in her own clothes, she wondered how many other people were going to recognize her. God what would they think? 

                "I don't know who you are…" She started, her voice trembling. "But I think it's awfully mean to say that a girl looks like a guy." Waya's eyes widened in shock and then looked from her face down to the rest of her body. Eh. Hikaru shivered. That she did not like. 

"I can't… Oh my god. I'm sorry." Waya started, his eyes still looking her over. "I'm… so sorry."  
"Well if you are," Hikaru snapped, face red. "Then stop looking at me like that, pervert!" She 

wrapped her arms tightly around her chest. It was both boys' turn to have their faces turn the color of a red tomato. It would only be later that Hikaru would wonder why Touya had started to blush as well. After all, he always made sure to look at anywhere but her since this had happened. And if he did look at her, it was only at her face. For that she was grateful.  

                "I'm sorry… I just… wow." Waya shook his head. 

                "Excuse me?" Touya asked, voice a bit strangled sounding. Touya reached out and grabbed Hikaru's shoulder as if sensing the murderous intent that had suddenly filled the air. She wanted to hit him. Wow? Wow? Wow what? Waya ignored the question or maybe he was so deep in shock that he didn't even hear it. As his next words came out of his mouth, Hikaru decided that it must have been shock.

                "I…I always new you had this thing for  Shindo. But…" Waya shook his head again. "That's just too weird." Touya made a choking sound, his whole body tensing up. He let go of her shoulder and was probably going to move when Hikaru spoke up. 

                "What? What _thing_ does Touya have for me, Waya?" She glared at both of them and then found herself the focus of Touya's wide green eyes and Waya's amber ones. "Oh. Shit." 

                "Wait a minute…I thought…" Waya looked from the two of them. "What the hell is going on?" He made his way until he was firmly planted between Touya and her. "Are you making him do this? I didn't think you were the type but…" It was her turn to stare wildly between the two boys. What the hell was going on through Waya's head anyway? Touya would never be the type to make anyone dress like a girl. She shook her head. Shock did something funny to people's heads, she decided. And maybe that explained the whole comment about Touya having a thing for him. Or maybe not. She'd have to look into that more.

                "Who the hell do you think I am?" Touya snapped, sounding angrier than Hikaru ever remembered hearing him sound. "Shindo." The taller boy turned to her. "You messed up, you explain it." 

                "Can we please go to your house first!? Someone else might recognize me and I really don't want everyone to know…" She covered her face. "This is soooooooo bad." Waya looked at her as if she was crazy. 

                "You want to go to his house? After all he's done to you?" 

                "He hasn't done anything but help me Waya!" Hikaru snapped back. "Just wait until we get to his house and I'll explain everything, I swear." 

                "O-okay." Waya muttered, grumbling and not looking entirely convinced. "Just stop making your voice sound so weird." Touya hit himself on the forehead with his fist. 

                "I'm surrounded by idiots." Hikaru thought she heard him say. She watched as he bent down to pick up the duffle bag that had been dropped and just started to walk. 

                "Hey Touya… wait up." She yelped. "I'll carry that. Its mine after all." He turned around and glared at her, making her wish she'd never even bothered to say anything at all. She found herself pouting before she even realized it. "Maa. Fine be that way." She stuck her tongue out at him and followed him a few steps behind. Waya was right beside her, making sure that Touya was nowhere near her. Not that Touya would want to be, Hikaru was sure of that. Touya hated her again. She sighed. 

                "Why do you keep talking that way?" Waya asked after a few minutes of silence. Hikaru sighed. 

                "I told you. I'll explain everything when we get to his house. And it's not like I want to sound like this." Waya looked like he was about to say something else but he closed his eyes as she finally gave in to the urge to hit him. "I swear Waya…" She nearly growled, making Touya pause in his steps in front of them at the sound. "Another word and I don't know what I'll do." 

                A few minutes later and they were safely inside Touya's house without any further incidents. Hikaru sighed in relief and thanked Touya for having carried her bag. The taller boy just closed his eyes as if he was counting to ten. When he opened them again, he seemed disappointed. "Make yourselves at home." He waved them in the living room, waiting for them to remove their shoes before entering further into the house. 

                "So…" Waya prompted, refusing to sit down or to wait any longer.

                "I'm a girl." Hikaru retorted. "Obviously. Akari made a stupid wish about guys knowing what its like to be a girl and I blacked out. When I woke up I was like this…" She waved her hand at her chest. "I can't go back home and I can't stay at Akari's…" 

                "Wait a minute. Wait a minute… Do you realize what you're saying?" Waya was gesticulating a bit wilder than he usually did before bringing one oh his hands to rest on his forehead. "Shindo. Don't lie. I can understand why you'd be ashamed or scared to admit on what's going on but…" 

                "THERE IS NOTHING GOING ON EXCEPT THAT STUPID AKARI MANAGED TO CHANGE ME INTO A GIRL YOU IDIOT!" Hikaru yelled, interrupting whatever Waya was about to say. "AND I DON'T KNOW HOW TO CHANGE BACK… AND IT'S REALLY ANNOYING AND I HATE BRAS AND I … AND I…" She stopped, feeling herself suddenly close to tears. Hikaru sniffled once before continuing in a softer and calmer voice. "You're such an idiot Waya!" She snapped. "I mean, do these look like they're fake?" She actually jabbed at her chest hard. Touya came back into the room, surprising Hikaru since she hadn't even realized he had left the room. He placed a tray on the table filled with two soda cans, glasses and a pot of tea. He poured himself one, apparently ignoring the conversation and then sipped at it before placing two aspirin pills in his mouth. Waya on the other hand, did not notice any of this happening. Apparently she'd convinced him.

                "You're being serious?" His voice cracked. His legs felt weak and he sat down right where he was standing. He blinked a few times. "You're really a girl, now?" 

                "That's what she's been trying to tell you." Touya muttered. "Here have a drink. It'll help." He passed the redhead a soda can as if knowing that tea wouldn't really be appreciated. Waya looked at the soda can blindly. 

                "I think a stronger drink would help." He cursed. 

                "Shindo, tea? Soda?" She shook her head at both options, feeling miserable. She had been trying vehemently to keep thinking positively. And now… now she didn't even know how to begin again. She sat down herself, bringing her knees to her chest, while resting her chin on top of her knees.

"I'm…sorry." Waya muttered contritely. "I…didn't know." 

"Obviously." Hikaru snapped, voice stuffed up. She hid her face for a few minutes, blinking hard. A cold can of soda was pressed to her cheek. She squeaked and looked up, ready to scream at Touya to go place his fucking soda can up his ass where it belonged. 

"You haven't eaten lunch yet." Touya stated gently, his eyes looking past her. "I can make ramen if you want." He didn't really wait for an answer. He just placed the soda can on the floor beside her and moved out of the room. 

"Idiot." Hikaru muttered, hugging her knees harder. "Now I really wanna cry." She whispered. Waya looked as awkward as he felt before finally moving from where he was and patting her shoulder. 

"We'll find a way, Shindo. We will." 

A/N- I really do like Waya. I just don't see him reacting very well to this situation at all. Shrugs. 

Anywho. I'll try to update soon and the next chapter should be happier!!!

Hope you guys still enjoyed it.


	4. Confessions and Ramen

Ch. 3

                In the safety of his kitchen where everything was where it was supposed to be, Akira could start to feel himself relax a bit. Just a bit though. The headache that was making his whole head throb was making it kind of hard to relax or to think that everything would be ok. He grabbed a pot and filled it with water. His anger at Waya had diminished to nothing by the time they had reached his house, after all… Waya had only wanted to protect his friend. Also it had helped that Shindo had defended him from Waya's wrath.

He sighed. And how could he be mad at anyone? If the situation had been reversed, if he had been in Waya's shoes… he would have come to the same conclusions. He turned on the heat of the stove, staring at the little red light turn on a bit lost.

 He'd never seen Shindo look so beaten. No. That wasn't true. He'd seen Shindo beaten before… but the boy had always jumped up again and been fine. This time it was different though. Akira himself was different. He just couldn't pinpoint why he had a need to make sure that Shindo didn't stay beaten long. He didn't like the look in the boy's eyes.

 Akira shook himself out of his thoughts and moved away from the stove after having placed the pot filled with water on it. While waiting for the water to start boiling, he searched the cabinets for the ramen noodles he knew his mom kept somewhere in the kitchen. Finding them, he tried to focus on reading the cooking instructions that was printed so small he felt like he was going cross eyed. He was saved from reading further as the phone rang, startling him.

                Akira picked up the phone a bit automatically, still keeping a watchful eye on the food he was trying to prepare. Maybe he should just dump the whole package in. If they had extras… they had extras. No one ever died of having extra food.  "Hello?" He answered, softly.

"Hey." Akari greeted. She recognized his voice and immediately asked the question that had been gnawing in her chest since she'd watch them leave her house. "How did everything go?" The question made him sigh.

"Not as good as planned." He answered truthfully.

In the other room, Waya still had a comforting hand on Shindo's shoulder. "Where are you going to stay?" He asked, breaking the silence that had fallen over the two after his bold claim that they would find a way to bring Shindo back to her… his… regular self. This was confusing. His amber eyes made sure to look straight into Shindo's grey green ones when the girl lifted her head. Being called a pervert was not on his top ten list of things his enjoyed.

"Here." Shindo muttered evenly. She brought up slightly tanned hand to wipe at her eyes. "Touya's parents are away for a week." She explained as Waya looked at her with a horrified expression.

"You're gonna stay with _him_?" Shindo made a face, scrunching her nose in distaste at her friend.

"He's not as bad as you think! He's nice Waya!"  A mischievous glint appeared in the girl's eyes. "And anyway, who else would I stay with? You? You've been checking me out since I turned into a girl. I wouldn't feel safe with you!" Waya tried to squak a denial but his vocal chords refused to work for him, his face turning bright red. He could only watch as he tried to swallow his embarrassment his friend giggle. Shindo? Giggling? Yes… He shook his head, punching her arm. This was scary. He would never be able to see Shindo the same way again.

"I was not! And anyway… wouldn't you stare if your guy friend suddenly turned into a girl?" Shindo wiped at her eyes again, this time wiping away moisture due to hilarity and not due to sadness.

"Touya didn't. He's polite." She stuck her tongue out at him. "And that hurt." She rubbed her arm where he'd so rudely punched it.

"Heh. Well… he's a freaking ice prince." Waya snorted. "Sometimes I wonder if he's human." Shindo pouted.

"Be nice." Waya sighed at the sight.

"Fine, fine. I'll try." He waved his hands in the air as a sign of defeat. "If you need to go somewhere else though… my apartment is open to you at all times."

"Thank you." She chirped. "But didn't Isumi move in with you two weeks ago?" Waya nodded. "I don't want anyone else to know about this Waya." Shindo started warningly. "The less it's known the better." Since he could understand that feeling, Waya nodded. Though it would be weird to keep something like this from Isumi, he'd keep his mouth shut. Shindo flopped forward, laying on her stomach while her legs were straightened out behind her. She propped her chin on her hand. "By the way Waya… I had a question to ask you."

"Oh?" He asked, wincing at the position she was in. It didn't look as comfortable as he knew it was. He leaned back onto his elbows. "Shoot."

"How long does it take to make ramen?" Waya sweat-dropped.

"Wha-a-at?"

"Shhhh!" Hikaru hissed, flapping her one hand at him. "You're so loud!" 

"Shindo…" Waya gave him a look that said 'the insanity of this situation has reached the roof top and oh… by the way, you're weird.'. "I have no idea how long it takes to make ramen. Are you _that_ hungry?" Shindo shook her head.

"I'm not hungry at all actually. Its just I wanted to have an idea of when he'd be back." She sighed and picked at the carpet. "What did you mean before… that he had a thing for me?" Waya rolled his eyes.

"Ah." He sat back up again. "Well… let's see. He talks to no one unless he has to; he's a well known hermit and an arrogant ass to boot. But then you come along and suddenly he has an eternal rival and behold… he actually hangs out with a kid his own age now. Of course it is still to play go but…" Waya folded his arms across his chest. "He actually shows his emotions when he's with you, now I know that it's usually anger but… it's something." Shindo looked at Waya with a small smile on her face.

"You're so weird." She finally stated, after having made sure that he was done with his little rant or whatever. "Didn't you ever just think that it was just our rivalry that makes him act like that? Or friendship?" Then she sighed. "You know the first time I met him… he didn't strike me as arrogant at all. Just shy." She closed her eyes as if recalling the event. "I still think he's just shy. Shy but sure of himself, when it comes to Go anyway. With people…" She trailed off. Waya huffed his own sigh.

"Humph." The noise made her open her eyes and she giggled. "What? Why'd you ask anyway?" He asked the two questions without really caring if the first one was answered at all. Shindo smiled.

"Just making sure the shock of me being a girl hadn't addled your brain or anything." At the face he made she snorted again with laughter.

"Addled brain my ass." Waya muttered. "So here I think this other _guy_ has a thing for you and that's all you're worried about." Shindo stopped laughing and looked at Waya seriously.

"I wasn't worried 'cause I know Touya. And he doesn't like me that way." She blinked suddenly. "Waya… do you think… being a girl is gonna change me in anyway?" Waya blinked at the question.

"Shindo…you're a girl. Of course you're changed!"

"No! Not like that you idiot. I mean like…Oh I don't know how to put it in words." She hissed in frustration.

"Shindo, Waya… it's ready." Touya's face suddenly appeared in the door way. "The kitchen's this way." He waited for them to start to follow him before turning back to retrace his steps from where he'd come from. "Akari called." He said as Shindo caught up to him. "She'd like to come and see you tomorrow." There Touya paused and gave Waya a side glance. "I didn't know where you'd be staying anymore, so she's expecting you to call her tonight." Shindo made a face.

"As if I'd leave you to spend the night with a perv." She punched Waya's shoulder before he could react to her words and then she skipped forward, placing Touya in between her and Waya. The redhead cursed at her, his amber eyes promising her that he'd get his own sweet revenge. "Anyway… like this we can play all the Go games until I can finally beat you. And we won't bother anyone when we scream at each other." Touya arched an eyebrow.

"It would take you multiple games Shindo." He finally said, agreeing with her choice of words on that comment but ignoring the part where she said they'd end up screaming at each other. Waya started to laugh at the horrified look that crossed his friend's face.

"I didn't mean it that way." She pouted.

"Just keep walking…" Touya muttered. She didn't need to be told twice. In all actuality, Hikaru nearly skipped the rest of the way to the kitchen, the familiar smell of ramen filtering into her nose and suddenly making her realize that she was indeed ravenous. Funny… she hadn't noticed it before. "I didn't know you could cook, Touya." She said as she entered the kitchen. He waved for her to sit in one of the chairs that surrounded the small table.

                "Hmm." Was the only reply she was given.

                "Smells good." She muttered. "Tastes good…" Shindo added after having tasted the food that had been placed in front of her. After having said that bit she started digging into her food as if she'd been starved for a month… which was always how Shindo ate his ramen. Touya and Waya shared a small look before turning to their own bowls of ramen and eating, their slight enmity forgotten for the moment as they all realized how taxing this day was and what it was doing to their appetite.

A/N- Sorry for taking so long on the next chapter. Finals week came and I was flooded with last minute school work and studying for exams. After exams were over I stayed home for only one day and then went to visit my sister. So I really haven't gotten the chance to even look at this!!!

I will try to do better as the summer progresses but I can't make any promises. Makes a face. That's the joy of taking summer classes I suppose.

Sighs.

Anywho I still hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!


	5. The Morning After

Ch 4

Waya had left shortly after lunch had been eaten. There were things he was supposed to be doing and Isumi was expecting him back at the apartment they shared with groceries at some point in the day. Plus it seemed that during lunch Waya had decided that Touya would probably be the best in handling the new Shindo. He even wished the tall pale boy good luck as he left, surprising Touya.

Without Waya's presence there to annoy her or say silly things to make her laugh, Hikaru gave a sigh, feeling a bit lost. She rubbed at her eyes and watched as Touya finished putting away the last of the dishes they had cleaned back in their place. He saw her movement and turned around, regarding her silently for a moment. It always had the same affect when he did something like that. Made her uncomfortable. Hikaru squirmed under the look. Touya turned away after a moment and closed the cabinet.

"There's a phone right there if you want to call Akari." The quiet teen started. "And afterwards you can help me make your bed. Or we can play a game of Go."

"O-ok!" Hikaru managed to grin at him. She didn't say which she wanted to do first, she just turned and found the phone that he had pointed to. Dialing Akari's number was something familiar and strange at the same time having it done more when he was younger. After she had entered the Go world, dialing her number had decreased. Hikaru bit her lip, she now had even MORE reasons to stay away from Akari…she sighed.

…

Hikaru fell backwards on her freshly made bed with a grunt. It wasn't as comfy as her own she noted almost right away. She rolled to her side so that she could see out the window. It was still light outside. Oh Sai…Hikaru thought of the ghost… you'd be laughing right this minute wouldn't you? She could already imagine the ghost's face, his long hair framing it as the ghost went chibi with laughter. I wish you were here. The girl sat up slightly. I really wish you were here. She rested her arms on the window's ledge, finding it surprisingly nice to have the bed so close to the window. After a few moments of just looking at the view, Hikaru placed her chin down on her hands. Today had been a long day…

Hikaru wasn't surprised when a few minutes later, Akari came into his room, breathless. She'd figured as much that the redheaded girl wouldn't be able to keep away from Touya's home. She felt so guilty about what had happened and rightfully so. Stupid wish. Hikaru glanced down at her own body and made a face. She was still a girl.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, tone grumpy. "I thought you were coming over tomorrow." Akari shook her head, still unable to get her breath back. "Did you run all the way here?" The girl nodded. "Idiot! Why'd you do that?" Akari looked at him with wide scared eyes. Still, she stayed silent. "Akari?" Hikaru didn't like this. Didn't like this at all. Her skin prickled with goosebumps and she hugged herself.

"Akari?"

"Hi-ka…ru…" She finally managed. "I'm…so… sorry." Hikaru blinked. "I'm so sorry." The words came out rushed now as if she was finally freed from her silence. "So s-sorry. I didn't mean to." No. She already knew that Akari hadn't meant to.

"Maa. Akari don't worry about it." She loosened her arms from herself and started rubbing them up and down her arms in hopes that the goosebumps would go away. Hadn't they already gone over this? "It's done, its done…I know you…"

"NO!" The girl screamed. "You don't understand!" The redhead shook and tears started to fall, glistening her face with silver lined streaks. "It's all my fault!" What the hell had happened between the time she had called Akari and now? Hikaru shook her head. "I made another wish Hikaru… I made another wish…" This time Hikaru actually shuddered. "I didn't mean to… I didn't… but…" Oh god. Another figure entered his room. Touya?

Touya, slim and tall Touya… Hikaru was afraid to look.

No.

Not him.

No.

"I'm so sorry, Hikaru…I'm so sorry."

No.

The door opened again. Waya came in. The older boy started to lean against Touya. Both of them were looking at her, judging her… blaming her! She hadn't made the wish. She hadn't! Akari had! It was her….But… they weren't… they couldn't be girls…

No.

Against his will, his eyes left the pale faces he knew so well and started to look down.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Hikaru sat up, waking herself up from her own nightmare. Confused, she blinked owlishly in the dark, her breathing heavy to match the frantic beating of her heart. Touya had… Touya was… She jumped off her bed, running to the door. Touya couldn't be. She swung the door open quickly and continued down the hallway, desperate to be proven wrong. Only Akari could do something so stupid twice in one day. Damn it. This house was too big. And it was dark and she didn't know where to go and where the hell was Touya when she needed him? God… what if he'd left too angry to even be near her? Hikaru nearly tripped and when she readied herself it was only to face a door that looked slightly more familiar than what she'd been looking at before. Still… that wasn't saying much. With careful gestures she opened the closed door and peered inside. Was it the right room? "Touya?" She whispered. No one answered her. But her eyes were already adjusted to the dark and she could make out the Go table with a pile of paper... probably kifu that was sitting neatly near it. She entered the room and continued to look around until her eyes fell upon Touya's bed. Under the blankets, the teenager slept, peaceful. The bundle moved slightly, a noticeable breathing pattern revealing itself with the up and down movements. Hikaru moved closer to the bed until she was close enough to see his face in shadows. She'd never seen Touya look so peaceful before. And suddenly, in the peace of the room Hikaru finally woke. The last traces of the dream left her, draining the fear that had made her run to find Touya. Of course Touya couldn't be a girl. Touya… was… Touya.

He was untouchable.

He was very unlike her…

Never getting into trouble. Never clumsy…

Hikaru reached out gently, pushing back a fallen strand of dark hair. Touya wrinkled his nose at the touch, much like a young child would when facing something they did not quite like. It made him look so much younger, so much more approachable than usual.

She took a step back and then limply sat to the ground. The relief of the situation flooded her. A smile creeped up onto her face.

He was human too.

She was such an idiot.

He had always been human.

Hikaru fell back onto the floor and stretched out before curling onto one side.

She'd stay here for just another few minutes.

Just another few…

The girl's eyes fell to a close, too heavy to keep open. Her mouth, a smile still, opened slightly. A gentle snore filled the room and yet it did nothing to disturb the peace nor did it disturb its occupants.

Akira woke up and sat up, a hand coming to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He'd had the strangest day yesterd—a dream… it must have been a dream. Only in dreams does Shindo, Hikaru manage to turn into a girl. Akira looked at his clock, initiating the routine he always held to. The numbers read 5:45. He ran a hand through his shoulder length hair, tugging at the ends when a knot stopped his hand from coming free. A yawn escaped his lips and he removed more of the blankets from his body before swinging his legs over his bed. And then the world stopped. And so did his lungs.

On the floor. Of _his_ bedroom was a girl. Curled up into a tight little ball and deep in sleep. The face looked like… the hair…OH NO! The sharp intake of air made him cough and Akira dug his hand into his mouth to keep from making noise. It hadn't been a dream. Shindo was a girl.

Damn.

He felt the head ache coming back on.

Damn.

What the hell was Shindo doing in his room?

A small burst of anger and resentment coiled in his stomach.

Hadn't he done enough?

Shindo's face turned, a small look of disgruntlement making its way on the relaxed face. The first morning light was starting to make its way into the room.

At the sight, Akira felt the anger leave him. Silently, he stood up and pulled his blanket off his bed. Then he took small steps towards the sleeping girl before placing the blanket carefully and gently over her. She hardly stirred and he was bemused to find that not only did Shindo, Hikaru snore and was as unladylike in sleep as she was in real life, which was comforting to say the least but… she also drooled. He shook his head and tried not to think too much about that. If he did, he might just take his blanket back and go wash it…He sighed.

The head ache was definitely back.

Ah well. He had things to do. Making breakfast being the first and then helping Shindo become a boy again and what else? Oh…and somewhere in the insanity he must try his damned-est to find _his_ sanity and keep it on a tight hold. He shook his head and decided he was going to change his routine just slightly. He was going to shower first before making breakfast in hopes that by the time he was done, Shindo would be awake and coherent enough to recognize food by herself. He walked back into his room and quietly gathered the clothes that he would need.

Minutes later, Akira found himself in the kitchen, a towel around his neck as he tried to rub down the remaining water out of its dark strands. He paused as he gathered his surroundings and tried to think of what he could possibly make for them.

Hikaru woke to the smell of something yummy wafting in the air. Turning around, the petite girl froze when she realized that one she wasn't in her own home, two she was still a girl… and it was annoying and embarrassing to wake up and realize this, and third the worst part of all was that she was in TOUYA's room with HIS blanket draped over her. Her cheeks burned a bright red and she gave a soft little moan before smacking herself in the face.

Great just great.

This really boded well for the rest of the day didn't it?

With a growl she yanked off the cover and stalked out of the room. How was she supposed to explain _that_? And what would happen if Waya ever found out? Oh god… shit shit shit! She managed to make her way down to the kitchen without much thought. When she got there though, she found herself at a loss. What the heck could she say? Touya saved her the trouble as he turned around, apparently having heard her footsteps.

"You're awake. Good." He dished something out into a bowl and handed it to her. "You have till eleven to get ready. We're meeting the others at…"

"I know." Hikaru growled, cutting Touya off, still not quite over her embarrassment. "…Thank you." Touya raised an eyebrow but remained quiet. The teenage fingered the towel that was still on his neck, his eyes distant. Hikaru poked at the food. "Ah… I had a nightmare last night…" She muttered quickly, hiding her face by looking intently at the food. "…s-sorry…" Touya's eyes seemed to snap back in focus and he looked at her for a while, silent in that contemplative way that he had done the day before.

"It's fine Shindo…"

And so it was. The redness fell from Hikaru's cheeks and she was able to look up, a smile spreading on her face.

A/N- So sorry its taken me so long to update. Thank you for everyone who have reviewed and supported me. Its made me very happy. Hope you enjoy the chapter and I will be working on the next chapter asap!!!


	6. Long Hair, Brushes and Ramen

Ch5.

Hikaru fingered her long hair in disbelief with one hand as she tried to brush it with the other hand. She had gotten it cut yesterday. YESTERDAY! and yet here it was again, past her shoulders, wet and tangled and painful. Touya had pointed it out first when she had been finishing up the remains of what had been a most delicious breakfast. She yelped as the brush, too deeply tangled in her hair was stuck and no amount of pulling could get it out. With tears of pain trying to squeeze their way out of her closed eyes, Hikaru was definitely not aware of a slightly harassed looking Touya.

"What on earth are you??" The question trailed off.

"I hate this! I HATE THIS!" Hikaru screamed, not caring at the moment how immature she sounded or how very embarrassing the situation was. "This isn't fair!" Touya had no comments to add to this and so remained silent. Which probably was the wisest of solutions in any case. The teenager came forward tentatively.

"Do...you need help, Shindo?" His answer was having the petite girl in front of him burst into tears.

"No I don't nee...d hel..p you... big... d-dummy!" She spoke through tears as she rubbed them away viciously with her fists. "I-I'm j...just ..fine. I'm j-just a f-freaking g-g-girl and... my h-hair k-eeps growing and..."

"And my hairbrush is stuck in it." Touya muttered ever so helpfully. He pushed his own shoulder length hair back behind his ear and sighed, actually looking flustered with the whole situation. "I...just...don't cry Shindo. And...don't, don't move." He stepped behind her and lifted the hairbrush, looking attentively at the strands of hair that had been wrapped around its round body probably more than once around. Aspirin anyone? This was _not_ gonna be pretty. With careful fingers he started to unwrap as best he could each strand off the brush. Shindo, red-faced was grimacing but staying still as a statue which surprised Touya. He had never thought the day would come when the b...girl stood still. The girl in fact was clenching her jaw tight, her eyes closed again in an effort to keep still and quiet. When some strands were tugged, a small whimper would escape and Touya would hastily apologize. He couldn't even begin to imagine how Shindo had tried to brush her hair. He sighed heavily, finally at the last strand.

"Is it out?" The words were gritted out as Hikaru started to turn to face Touya. Before Touya could say anything, Hikaru was answered by the hair that was pulled out of her scalp. "Argh. That hurts. I've had enough!"

"It's out now." Touya muttered handing the girl the brush. "but... the knots aren't."

"WHAT?" Hikaru was seeing red by this point. Upset, angry? the words said little to describe the feelings she was dealing with at the moment. There was only one thing she could do. Touya looked on in amazement as he was the first to witness Shindo, Hikaru's angry little dance. The girl seemed to bounce in place, her fist waving wildly about at her reflection as she cursed the entire world out. Hearing expletives that he hadn't even known existed, Touya could only listen, eyes continually widening.

And then the anger was gone and Hikaru just seemed to deflate. Her bouncing stopped and her fist was lowered, the fingers uncurling from the cramped position. From her lips came short gasps of air and for a moment, Touya was terrified that she was going to start crying. Again.

"If you want... I can brush it for you." Touya continued rapidly. "I mean. I'm used to longer hair and..." Hikaru used no words to answer him. Her throat felt raw and hurt in a way that was new to her. She didn't even know how to react to Touya's helpful manner in any case. Part of her wanted to blow up in his face and blame him for everything while another part of her wanted to just jump into his arms and latch herself to him so that she could cry her heart out. There was no way in hell she would do either of those two things. Her fear and respect of him was completely whole and she really couldn't handle losing him as an adversary and dare she think tentative friend? And her male pride would have none of this hugging nonsense. The mere thought was just... plus it was Touya! Touya was not huggable. And neither was she. She was never huggable. She hated hugs! So Hikaru nodded, willing herself not to care as Touya lead her away from the mirror and the bathroom and back into the kitchen. He gently forced her to sit down before going and positioning himself behind her. "Sit up straight Shindo." His voice was soft. She supposed he was trying to calm her down. Tears prickled at her eyes again and just made her anger rise within her again.

GOD DID SHE HATE BEING A GIRL.

Touya, she thought, must be flipping. Completely flipping at seeing her like this. She would be too.. actually she already was. She groaned. Touya?s pale hands which had taken part of her hair and started to gently work out the knots froze.

"Did I hurt you?"

"No" No... he hadn't. Not really. Not him. It would be unfair to blame him. But in a way. He had. Him just being here. Him being nice and seeing her like this. It was a blow. No matter how grateful she was for his help. She brought a hand to her eyes and rubbed them dry. The hands resumed their work. And slowly, very slowly... Hikaru began to be calmed under the gentle ministrations. She began to be soothed. And when Touya started to actually brush her hair, Hikaru was starting to understand why girls always liked having other girls play with their hair. It was nice.

"Done." Touya sighed in relief as he said the word that freed him. He stretched and let the brush fall down on the table. "We should go." He checked his watch at the same time as Hikaru turned around and looked at him with almost a disappointed look on her face. "We're late." That got rid of the look fast enough.

"We are? ACK! Waya is gonna kill me!!!" With that shouted into his face, Touya was left to stare at an empty chair that was deciding whether it would remain standing or topple over where it was. He took it in his hands, making the decision for it to remain standing. Another aspirin was definitely in order.

Grimly, he massaged the side of his head. And it was only 11:25 in the morning? he still had several hours before he _could _take another. It was his turn to groan and he did.

Only Shindo...

Only Shindo...

God.

And it was only morning.

Waya tapped his foot, checking his watch for what was probably the 100th time. His doubts and misgivings concerning leaving Shindo in Touya's care were back and doubled... make that tripled or more. His glare deepened and he continued to ignore Akari's worried babble. Where the hell were they? He was used to Shindo being late but Touya? Maybe his watch was wrong? Maybe both Akari and he had made a mistake? Maybe they were meeting them at the other Ramen store? But no. He ground his teeth together in frustration. Shindo made mistakes like that. He didn?t. And he doubted Akari would either.

"There!" Akari suddenly jumped up, pointing at the crowd of people getting off a bus. "Them. It's them." Waya strained his eyes to pick them out. He needn't have bothered though. Shindo ran up to them, long hair tied up in a scraggly pony tale. Touya came a few minutes behind, walking.

"S-sorry." Shindo muttered out of breath. She pointed to her hair as if in explanation. Waya glared harder. He really didn?t see the connection between hair and lateness.

"It grew again." Akari seemed mystified. She looked between Touya and Shindo for an answer. Shindo straightened up and glared at her.

"Yes it did." Akari blinked.

"Are you going to cut it again?" She asked, either oblivious or ignoring the hostility in Shindo's voice.

"No! And waste more of my hard earned money? I don't think so?" She pushed some strands back from her face.

"That still doesn't answer the question of why you to are late, Shindo." Waya muttered, finally allowing himself to sit. He slumped in it every inch of him being forced to look relaxed.

"Actually, it does." Touya stated calmly. "Shindo..." The girl turned bright red and turned her glare towards Touya who seemed unfazed by it. "Managed to get my brush stuck in her hair. It took a good hour to free her from it and to get rid of the knots." If possible Akari?s eyes widened more while Shindo turned a brighter red.

"You didn't have to say it like that!" Shindo shoved herself into a chair, wincing as her butt collided with the hard surface. Touya shrugged indifferently to the show of attitude he was being presented with and sat between Shindo and Akari. Shindo huffed and ran a hand down her pony tale. "I didn't know long hair was such a pain." Akari shifted in her chair and bit her lip.

"Uh? Hikaru?"

"What?"

"You... you..."

"Oh spit it out already."

"You forgot your bra." Waya straightened up like he'd been doused with cold water and he made sure that he was looking away from his friend. He tried to concentrate instead at Touya's face. That should be safe ne? Those green eyes had widened and for a moment, Touya almost looked frightened. A slight blush was starting to form on that serious face. Well at least Waya wasn't alone in having that reaction. Shindo groaned.

"This day is horrible!" The petite girl whacked her head on the table making the other three jump up. "What else is gonna go wrong? Argh?" She hugged herself and when she looked up she glared defiantly at the three as if daring them to tell her something else was messed on Shindo." Waya muttered, still staring off to the side. His hand scratched at his red hair. "It's not that bad." He tried to say something comforting. "It's not like I noticed." He knew before he was done saying it that it was the wrong thing to say. Hikaru stood up, her arms still hugging her slight frame. If looks could kill, he'd be good and dead and half buried by now. He took a step back.

"YOU WERE LOOKING?!" No voice should be allowed to be so shrilly. He winced at the pain it was causing him. "YOU PERVERT!" Touya moved quickly enough, his hand coming and covering Shindo's mouth.

"Shindo. We're in a public restaurant and everyone is staring." She mumbled something or tried to, but it was not heard. And soon the two were having a glaring contest until Shindo red in the face looked away. Touya nodded slightly and let his hand fall away. He took off his jacket and gave it to Shindo.

"I'm not cold." Shindo hissed in a quieter tone.

"I didn't say that you were." Touya replied calmly. "It's to make your condition less noticeable." He paused and went back to his place as Shindo quickly shrugged the coat on, no longer having any argument of wearing it. "Maybe we should start searching for the cure." He eyed the other customers warily and bowed his head in their general direction as an apology. Waya snorted slightly. What a prick. But... A little voice commented back.... A prick that had saved his ear drums from permanent damage. Akari gave a little sigh of relief at the sudden peace that surrounded them.

"I think maybe we should eat first." She said carefully. Maybe? More like definitely. Ramen was _the _perfect cure for Shindo in a bad mood. "And then... well I figured we could go to the palm readers... and such... to find a cure. I mean... if you guys have any better ideas than that's good. But this is all I could think of." At that Touya looked a bit ruffled as if the thought of going to see a palm reader was really... really... odd? Hmm? Waya scowled. He hadn't been able to think of anything so he remained silent.

"Palm reader... Oh man...this is bad!!" Shindo muttered. "This is really bad."

A/N- Yay. I was able to update nearly twice in one week! Aren't you proud of me??? Grins. I hope you guys are still enjoying the story. I'd really appreciate some feedback and will try and continue updating as much as I can.


	7. Psychics and the likes

Ch6

Hikaru was quiet as she ate her ramen. She was busy focusing on trying not to think of what would be coming up next. Seeing psychics and the likes was not what she had quite thought of when trying to figure out a way to get her back into being a boy again. Then again… she hadn't been able to figure out anything at all. Glumly she poked at the food before scooping a portion out and eating it.

Hopefully the afternoon wouldn't go too badly.

Hopefully.

Too soon she found that her bowl was empty and that the others had long been done with their lunch. Akari looked at her old friend hesitantly, a hand coming to tug at her own long hair nervously. The redheaded girl opened her mouth and then closed it, only to have it open again. Only Hikaru seemed to notice it as Touya was busy fishing money within his wallet and Waya was doing the same. At the sight of the money Hikaru pushed aside the feeling that was being produced within her by the sight of Akari in such a way. Instead, Hikaru started to feel for her wallet in her pocket.

"Leave it be Shindo." Waya muttered. "It's…" He trailed off as he saw that Touya had already placed some money on the table. "…our treat." Hikaru looked at him shocked. Waya was paying? For her? Without having her to beat him over a go board?

"That goes for you as well." Touya stated simply to Akari who looked at him with widening eyes before blushing and looking away.

"Thank you." Akari whispered. Hikaru frowned. Something just was _NOT_ right. But before she could say this, Akari had looked back up, the nervous look in her face once again. "I… I have a list of all the palm readers, psychics and the…" She trailed off into a mumble.

"You have a list?" Waya demanded looking horrified that there could be such a thing. He waved his hand towards her in his way of asking to see it.

"Yes… I thought. I thought it was only right for me to do such a search. I organized by what is closest and … and…" Her voice was getting all scratchy and odd. It was to Hikaru's and Waya's great horror that tears started to roll down her cheeks. "It's all my fault… of course… of course… I would…" Touya seemed to be suffering, his face taking on a pained look much like the face Hikaru had seen this morning. The quiet boy ducked his head and fished for something in his pocket. He produced a handkerchief from his pocket and offered it to the girl while the other two remained motionless, paralyzed by the dreaded girl tears. "Thank…you." Akari sniffled. "Sorry." She turned away to wipe her face and Hikaru found himself facing both Touya and Waya. The girl arched her eyebrow as if to say 'What?' Waya snorted.

"Shindo…" He whispered. "You're as bad as I am."

Great. As if she hadn't been feeling miserable already.

Hikaru chose to ignore the comment.

"Maybe we should start going. How many people were you able to find Akari?" The girl turned around and looked sheepish.

"A lot… but I'm sure we'll only need to go to one of them. I'm sure they'll be able to fix things. They have to." She said with determination. Hikaru bit her lip from sighing out loud and making some snide comment.

"Yeah." She said instead, nodding. "Show us the way Akari."

…

_Mystique Moon_ was printed in long elegant letters on a wooden plank hanging near the door. Hikaru stared at it for the longest time until the words themselves started to blur. She blinked rapidly and huffed a sigh. Taking a resolute step forward, Hikaru was suddenly halted by a gentle tug on her hair. Akari had a good handful of it too.

"What now?" Hikaru whined, her own hand bunching in her loose pony tale in an attempt to get her hair freed.

"Let me braid it or just…" Akari trailed off at the face that Hikaru was making at her. But she quickly recovered her tongue as a blush reddened her cheeks. "Or leave it down Hikaru but don't keep it the way it is now."

"And why not?" Hikaru snapped. Waya and Akira also looked confused at the interruption. The four of them had all been standing near the door waiting for Hikaru to move and when she finally had… Akari was stopping him? Because of her hair?

"It's all messy!" Hikaru rolled her eyes, huffing a sigh as her hand went to her hair. Her finger lifted part of the elastic band and then pulled down.

"Happy?" Akari nodded slowly. "Good…" The girl looked at the sign again and sighed a much different sigh from before--more frightened then angry. Hikaru shrugged and then continued onward. The doorknob was cold to the touch. She opened the door with one swift movement and entered without looking back at the other three. Waya followed rapidly, catching the closing door before it hit him. He then held it open for Touya and Akari who were right behind him.

"Well. This is sure to be fun." Waya grumbled under his breath.

"Come in…come in…" A soft voice whispered to them behind a glimmer of crystal beads that framed the door way. "What is your wish? To know the future? The past lives? Romance? Money?...or perhaps…" The voice was coming closer. A jeweled hand came into view, pushing the beads away. "…something more peculiar…yes…" A petite woman came, her long black hair nearly swishing at the floor. She continued walking towards Hikaru until they were nearly nose to nose. Hikaru was baffled to see that the woman was shorter than her and looked not that much older than she was. How had this girl… ever gotten into this profession anyway? And how could she help? The dark eyes that continued to stare at her seemed to sparkle and then the women shook her head. "You're right." The voice that in the beginning had been soft, soothing and slightly magical seemed more normal now. There was a pitying tone in it as well hidden in its velvet like sound. "There is nothing _I_ can do for you." Her gaze left Hikaru and turned to focus on Akari who started to blush at the attention with embarrassment and slight fear. "Interesting." The woman whispered. "_You_ on the other hand might want to come back. Such potent wishes can become more dangerous if held unchecked." Here instead of pitying the tone was serious and yet… there was a bit of humor in it as well. Hikaru's mind was spinning with everything that had been happening in front of her. "But no matter. I believe you have a long day ahead of you still. I wish you luck." She motioned to the front door in which the four had entered. "Goddess bless." Hikaru blinked at the sudden and not so subtle goodbye.

"Ookay…" She heard from behind her Waya grumbling and the sound caused her to turn around. The redheaded boy was near the door and was already turning the doorknob. He wasted no time in getting out of the store and was quickly followed by Touya. Hikaru on the other hand glanced back to the small woman, wondering what her words meant. If they meant anything at all. And how had she known anyway what she had been thinking anyway. The woman was still looking at Akari and whispering to the girl _something_. And Akari had the most peculiar look on her face. Hikaru frowned.

"Coming Akari?" She asked loudly enough to break the pensive look on her childhood friend's face.

"Y-yes!" The stammered reply was followed with a hasty goodbye and then the redhead was at Hikaru's side. Hikaru opened the door for her friend and breathed in a big gulp of fresh air as they both made their way out.

"Well. That was just _too _weird." Waya muttered. He was leaning against a light post, his arm folded against his chest. "What was all that about?" Hikaru shrugged.

"I have no idea. I'm just glad that we got out of there." Akari stayed quiet and went over to Touya's side who asked her quietly if she was ok. She nodded and gave him one of her smiles. Hikaru looked away from the scene, the frown on her face darkening.

"What is it?" Waya asked, noticing the look growing on Hikaru's face.

"Nothing." She stated sharply. "Where do we go next Akari? I really don't want to be like this any longer than I have to be." Akari turned to her friend and blushed, nodding rapidly.

"Of course. Sorry Hikaru." She fished through her purse for that dreaded list and removed it. "The next one is down that street." She pointed across the road to an alley way that Hikaru would have never even thought to walk past let alone actually go into it. It was visible on all the other's faces that they felt the same way too. The alley way that Akari had pointed to was dark even though it was day time and their were people laying on the ground that already looked menacing even this far away, with just tendrils of white smoke coming from where their darker bodies were outlined.

"Ooh boy." Waya groaned. "And with two girls…This is definitely not going to be good." Hikaru bristled at being counted as a girl. "Well…a girl and a half?" Waya raised his hands up in his defense. "You look like one Shindo even if you aren't one." He paused for a bit. "Any guy we might come across in that alley way won't care if you tell them you were born a guy but suddenly changed sex without meaning to…" Hikaru blanched at where her friend was going with this. She took a deep breath and then rolled her eyes.

"That's not gonna happen so don't even think about it. And anyway…" She turned to Waya and Touya and did her best to imitate Akari's batting of eyelashes. "You two are here to protect Akari and I from such dangers." Akari stifled a nervous giggle while Waya and Touya exchanged surprised glances. "Right, you brave strong perverted men…" Hikaru sighed again. "I so don't feel comforted at all."

"HEY!" Waya muttered. "Watch it… have some faith in us will you?"

"Can't we just skip this one?" Hikaru moaned.

"No!" The redheaded go player stated with unreasonable stubbornness. His pride had been hurt. "Touya and I can handle any prick that tries to bother us. Come on." Hikaru heard Touya sigh in the background and turned around in time to see Akari looking at the taller go player with worry in her eyes. Feeling that strange anger rise from within her again, Hikaru resolutely turned to face Waya.

"Fine. Lead the way."

"Will do." Waya hissed and crossed the street without even taking notice that it was red for the pedestrians and green for the cars. Needless to say there was a lot of horns blasting their horrid and ear damaging noise spilling through the air. The three watched on the one side of the road while poor Waya dodged the traffic to get onto the other side. Hikaru felt sweat forming at her temples as she watched, her heart momentarily leaping to her throat. Akari's reaction had been even worse as she had emitted a scream and her hands had come up to cover her mouth. Touya simply cursed. "I'm alive!" The redhead shouted from the other side, waving to the frantically.

"And he's supposed to protect us?" Hikaru asked weakly. She looked to Touya for reassurance. "Help?" Touya shook his head wordlessly.

"I'll do the best I can." He finally said as he realized that it was both girls now that looked at him with the same look. "Let's go. The light has turned green." As they reached the other side, Hikaru ran the rest of the way to her friends' side.

"You're a moron, you know that?" Waya gave her one of his manic grins and punched her arm.

"Shut up and respect your elders, Shindo."

"Whatever you say..." The redhead rose his hand and tried to ruffle the girl's hair but Hikaru skipped ahead until she'd reach Touya's side. At the taller boy's side she slipped her arm through his and turned to Waya to stick her tongue out at him. She didn't really realize fully what had just taken place and so was confused by the wide eyed look she got from Waya instead of the amused/angry look she'd expected to find.

"Uh…Shindo?" Touya was blinking down at her, looking at their hooked arms with confusion. Hikaru stared at them with a perplexed expression as well. It was then that her brain caught up with her actions.

"ACK!" She pushed Touya away, her face flaming. "Sorry! Sorry! Didn't mean to do that… I mean…OH god! Sorry Touya." She exclaimed further as he stumbled a few steps backwards before he got his balance back. He righted himself and looked to the sky as if there would be an explanation to all of the day's events there spelled out for him. Or maybe he was just trying to find the lost sanity that must have been flying overhead. Hikaru didn't know what was going on through his head at the moment. She could only guess. And she guessed that he would now be pissed.

"Can we just go already?" Touya asked in a very strained voice.

"Sounds good." Waya and Akari said at the same time both untensing when they saw that nothing like Hikaru's and Touya's well known fights were going to start at that moment. As they started to walk though, Akari started to giggle and tried to muffle it down by clamping her hand over her mouth.

"It's not funny." Hikaru hissed at her and tried to swat at her childhood friend but missed. She ended by the other girl's side though, letting the two boys lead the way into the alleyway. Akari grabbed Hikaru's hand as they first stepped into the shadowy corner and Hikaru let her, needing the reassurance herself despite the fact that she was trying to act nonchalant about it.

How she wished she could be a guy at the moment.

The men on the ground said nothing as they made their way through the previously un-chartered territory. Waya paused in his steps only to ask what the place was called. After Akari answered him though, the four of them remained silent.

Not soon enough, they saw a dirty sign that told them of their arrival. It was a hole on the side of the brick wall.

"Here?" She asked in disbelief. It looked no safer in that place than it did outside. Akari nodded at her side, mute. "…" The four stared at it for a bit. Touya was the one who entered first this time, leaving the rest to follow him blindly.

"Its twenty dollars per person per session." A voice stated calmly from behind a desk. Hikaru sneezed at the strong smell of incense that filtered to his nose. She had to wave aside a bead curtain before actually seeing how the person looked like.

"Twenty dollars?" She squeaked.

"You heard me kid." Akari let go of her hand and fished in her purse.

"Here Hikaru…" She handed her friend a crisp twenty dollar bill.

"But Akari…"

"Just go!"

…

An hour later, Hikaru walked out from the place in a huff. She was nearly blinded by tears of angers and frustration.

"HAPPY LIFE WITH 4 CHILDREN AND A GOOD HUSBAND!" She shrieked, barely giving the others time to catch up to her. "4 CHILDREN? GOOD HUSBAND? I'LL SHOW THAT FRAUD! A _COMPLETE_ WASTE OF TWENTY BUCKS!" She tripped over a body and scrambled up and over it. "… Wouldn't even listen to my questions! Said I was delusional… ARGH!" This time when she tripped, she was not so lucky as to catch her balance straight away and she landed sprawled onto the ground.

"Hikaru!" Akari yelped. A hand grabbed Hikaru's arm. But it was none of her friends to her dismay. A bearded stranger pulled her up to her feet.

"You should watch where you're stepping girly." Hikaru yanked her arm out from his grasp.

"I am NOT a girly!" She shouted before going back to stomping.

"Will you wait up?" Waya yelled at her rounded back. "I can't believe you just did that!"

"What?" Hikaru snapped. "I didn't _do_ anything. They shouldn't be sleeping on the dirty road anyway and he shouldn't make such stupid assumptions about me without knowing me and he shouldn't have touched me and…"

"Stop and breath Shindo."

"Oh will YOU SHUT UP TOUYA!" The girl snapped. Touya took a step back, visibly startled. "I'm sure this is very amusing to all of you. Ha ha… poor stupid Shindo's done it again. Why are you here anyway, helping me? You don't care! You don't even think of me as a…a….a… friend or a true opponent…!" The girl sniffled viciously, taking all of her frustrations out on the one who'd been by her side the longest since this had all began. "You're just here 'cause its an easy way to make friends and look good, you bastard." Touya's mouth opened slightly and his eyes widened visibly before he started to frown and yet he stayed silent through out the attack. The anger that she'd felt all day and especially the strange emotion she'd felt when seeing Touya with Akari boiled over and tainted the words that escaped from her mouth. "You're so… arrogant and such a know it all. You think you know everything but you don't! So why don't you just butt out and leave _me_ ALONE!" Her voice raised up to a yell. "And take back your stupid jacket while you're at it!" She yanked it off her shoulders and threw it onto the ground.

"Fine." Was the only word Touya spoke. And stiffly, the dark haired teenager walked away, leaving behind the jacket as he did. Akari looked horrified and for a moment looked at Hikaru as if she couldn't even begin to recognize her old friend. Waya was strangely silent throughout this time as he regarded Hikaru's small frame that was shaking from the force of her strong breathing.

"That was…horrid of you Hikaru." She said softly. "He's done nothing but help you." She took a sheet out from her purse and stuffed it her friend's face. With that, she turned and ran after Touya's rapidly disappearing shape.

"…Shindo?" Waya asked softly. The girl's head had dropped, the anger suddenly spent. Hikaru watched silently as the paper with Akari's neat hand writing fell to the ground. She was so tired. "Shindo?" She let herself fall, her hands coming to her face where she pushed them as deep as they could go, crushing skin and muscle to the bone. She didn't want more tears to fall. She didn't want any more to fall… no more… no more… "It'll be okay…" Waya continued awkwardly. "Please don't…" A muffled curse finished the half sentence. The redhead looked to his friend to where the other two had disappeared. He didn't know what to do… He… "There are more placed to try. The day isn't over yet!" He tried again at this comforting thing. If Shindo had been himself, it would have been easier. He would have known immediately what to say, which buttons to push, where to drag the kid along… but Shindo wasn't himself. Wasn't a him at all. Waya frowned. And it shouldn't have changed things _that_ much and yet Waya found that it did. And he didn't know how to get around it yet. "It's not like you to give up so easily…" He snorted. "Hell. Screw the other two anyway. I'm sure we'll find the cure together. So don't cry, ne?" He bent down and started to reach for Shindo's still shaking shoulder but paused midway and then changed direction. He grabbed Touya's jacket instead and then draped it over the girl's body. Shindo jerked at the touch, her hands finally leaving her reddened face. Where her hands had been, white showed before turning into a darker red.

"…I always screw up…" Hikaru whispered. Waya made a face. He passed a hand through his reddish hair and shrugged.

"Don't know what you're talking about." He said gruffly, ignoring the tears. "Come on. We should start moving if we want to get to all the placed."

"They'll never work." The voice sounded so broken, it scared Waya.

"You'll never know if you don't try. Now come on. Or none of this treating you to ramen business ever again." The old threat didn't quite work the way it should've had. Instead of an energetic Shindo getting to her feet, it was a listless one that did, grabbing the paper with one hand and the other one holding onto Touya's jacket. Still, it got her to move. And by that time it was all that Waya cared about.

…

"Wait Touya-kun! Wait…" Akari ran after the taller boy, amazed by how fast he could walk. She was afraid of losing him in the crowds. She didn't know or understand what had made Hikaru explode at Touya instead of her… but she felt like it was her fault. Hikaru had said those things only because of the situation, Akari was sure of that. Hoped anyway… "Touya-" The young man turned around finally, as if he'd finally heard her. Maybe it was that he had just heard her. The streets were busier now…His eyes scanned the streets until they rested on her running figure. They widened slightly, losing the slightly cool and detached look that had been residing in the green color. As she reached his side, she stopped and bowed her head. "I'm sorry."

"There's nothing you need to apologize for." She looked up, searching that pale face that had always seemed to her too stern. Too serious… too old for the boy she knew to be her age. Since yesterday, that had changed. Now all she saw was someone painfully shy but nice… and yes…too serious. The way he'd caught her yesterday as she fainted, the way he'd calmed many of Hikaru's and her own hysteria. Been patient with both of them even though he'd had many opportunities to just walk away. He'd invited Hikaru to his house, to her it spoke of caring. It also spoke of friendship.

She only hoped Hikaru's rash words wouldn't destroy that. The words she wanted to say to him were lost as she continued to stare at him. She knew dimly that part of the reason was because she realized that if she tried to apologize for Hikaru's behavior, Touya would probably be hurt all the more for it. Another reason was because…because she simply was tongue tied.

"Are you all right?" The question was phrased gently and it caused her to blush. How long had she been staring? God, she was an idiot.

"Yes." She answered quickly. "…not really…but…I'm glad I was able to catch up to you." Touya blinked at the ever changing answer.

"…ah…thank you?" Akari smiled at the question in the boy's voice. She shook her head, opened her mouth to say something… and closed it as she changed her mind. She opened it again finally.

"Where were you going to go?" As she asked, the two started to walk.

"Home." Touya brushed aside a longer strand of hair that came into his face. "Would you like me to walk you home before hand though?" Always the gentleman. Akari found herself wishing for Hikaru to treat her like that… If only. Her thoughts mocked her. She tried to push a deep ache within her aside. Deep down she already knew, that Hikaru would never ever see her the way she wanted him to see her. And no amount of wishing could change that!

Even _if _her wishes were _potent_ and could sometimes come true.

The thought made her pause in her footsteps and she bit the side of her lip.

"Ne, Touya-kun?" One hand came up to tug at her reddish hair nervously. The other boy slowed his long strides and looked at her. "Before going home, could you do me a favor?" She asked shyly. He nodded slowly, unsure of what was to come next. "The first place we went to…" Touya frowned. "…the lady said something that was strange. And it makes me think that even if she said that she couldn't help us that she actually can. I'd like to go back like she asked me to but I don't wanna go alone and…" Touya shook his head.

"I don't think going back there would be a smart idea."

"I know but…" How could she explain the feeling that was growing from deep within her? There were no words to describe the sense of recognition that she had felt when looking into that woman's face. She hadn't realized it at the time, so caught up in being afraid and saddened and angered that she'd done something once more that would push Hikaru away from her. She closed her eyes and sighed. She hadn't realized that she'd stopped walking until she was pushed from behind. Touya caught her elbow and helped her regain her balance before she fell. He then walked to a less crowded part of the street, hand still firmly placed on that one elbow.

"Do you really think that she can help?" He asked once they'd reach the destination of his choosing.

"I don't know. I think so… but I don't…" He regarded her with those cool green eyes and she was struck again by the maturity that resided in them.

"We'll never be sure if we don't go back I suppose." His pale hand went and rubbed at his temple. She'd frequently seen him do this and wondered if it was merely done in habit when he was stressed or whether he truly was in pain. "You'd go even if I didn't come with you, wouldn't you?" The question took her off guard and she was left to simply nod in answer. It seemed to make up his mind though. "Let's go then."

"Thank you Touya-kun."

A/N- Wow… Long time since I've updated. Me srry. Hangs head down in shame. No excuses for it really… except that I'm studying abroad in Australia for one semester YAY!Grins. Anywho. Even while I'm in the land Down Under, I'm writing! So no worries. winks I'll try and write more.


	8. What!

Ch.7

The small woman was surprised when she looked up from the stool where she'd been sitting and saw Akari and Touya standing there. She recognized the girl immediately from this morning but had to think a bit before her mind remembered the pale boy.

"Yes?" She asked. She hadn't expected the girl to come back so soon. Especially after seeing the girl's initial reaction.

"I think you lied to us." Akari stated boldly, her fear making her words less than polite and more blunt than she usually was. Behind her, Touya tensed. "I think you can help Hikaru or at least you know something of what's going on but you won't tell us! I want to know why! I want to know how I can undo the wish." She took a step forward. "I'll do what you asked of me if you'll answer my questions!" At this the boy frowned and moved as if to grab the girl.

The woman held her hand up.

"First of all calm down." She closed the book that she'd been looking at and placed it on the shelf behind her. Then with careful movements she stood up and regarded the two in her shop. "I'm Claire." The two teens blinked. "My mother liked the French." More blinking. The two exchanged bewildered looks and then the girl sighed.

"I'm Fujisaki,Akari." She bowed her head slightly.

"Touya, Akira." Claire smiled.

"Much better." She went to the door after that and switched the plastic open sign to the other side so that it read closed. Then she locked the door. "This might take awhile. Follow me…" Heedless to say, this Touya, Akira was not a happy camper and the poor girl, Akari looked like she was having serious doubts at having come back. Claire's smile widened.

And just when she had thought life was getting a bit dull…

…

Hikaru's feet hurt and so did her head. She let Waya lead the way to wherever they were going next. All the places on Akari's list had been checked out. Some had been closed for the day, others had been closed for good and as for the rest… they'd been of no help whatsoever.

She'd learned that she'd been the reincarnation of some great whatnot in the year blah and that her future held great promise. In other places she'd learned that she'd been born under the sign of Saturn. Whether that was good or bad depended on the time, the day, the month, the movement of the stars… basically everything. Right now was a bad time. She didn't need no stars to let her know this bit of information. Then there'd been more promises of her finding a dark stranger that she'd live happily with for the rest of her life and have many children. They seemed to like the number four for her. Why four? Of all the possible numbers to tell her, why did they ALL have to pick four? It gave her the creeps.

She was NOT planned to have kids. She was not planned to be a freaking _she_. Try explaining that to someone busy ready tarot cards about your future though.

Hikaru felt miserable and all she wanted to do by this point was go back home and curl up in a ball and not move again until this horrible nightmare was over. But she couldn't go home. She sighed and then bit her lip. For one moment, as if she hadn't felt miserable enough, she thought of Sai. Oh just great. It was the second time this week she'd thought of him.

She was gonna be depressed for the rest of the freaking week now if not longer. To think that he'd disappeared from her life just like that…with no warning. It was almost gonna be a year now since that had happened. She felt the all too familiar lump in her throat grow. She only wanted to him again. To hear him again. He'd been the only one…to fully understand her. And she'd taken it for granted up until Sai had disappeared of course. Life was always like that.

Always.

She hated it.

From the corner of her eye, Hikaru saw Waya looking at her with a worried face. After several of these looks Hikaru snapped her head up and glared at him.

"What is it?"

"W…what should we do now?" Hikaru blinked and realized that they'd been walking around a bit aimlessly for the past, she checked her watch, hour and half. She groaned.

"Go back in time and erase everything?" She asked only half kidding. Waya stopped walking, hands deep in his pocket.

"You know you can stay with me and Isumi…"

"I'd still have to go back to get my stuff Waya." Hikaru stated weakly. "I have to face him sometime and apologize for the fact that I'm a complete and ungrateful jerk."

"Anyone in your position would have reacted that way." Waya muttered, rubbing the toe of his shoe in a crack in the pavement.

"…maybe…" She turned on her heels and started to head towards the train station. Now or never…

She couldn't lose him now. Not when she'd gotten so far and lost so much in trying to catch up to him.

So it would have to be now.

She heard Waya run to her side and together they made their way back Touya's house.

…

Hikaru stared at the wooden door with dread. Should she knock? Ring the doorbell? Or just stand here looking all pitiful? Waya stayed silent and made no move or any other gesture that could be taken for impatience. It was surprising to Hikaru. She'd never realized how considerate the loud redhead actually was. She mustered her courage for him mainly because she knew how agonizing it can be to just wait for someone to make up their mind about something. Her hand pressed the doorbell once, twice… the door opened.

"Come in." Touya said politely, game face on meaning that it was utterly closed of all emotions. The other boy didn't ask how the day had gone. He didn't need to. After all it was quite clear that Hikaru was still a girl. Hikaru and Waya made their way in and too soon the door was closed behind them. The three stood in the foyer, silent.

"Look, I—"

"Akari has somethi—" Hikaru and Touya both started and stopped talking at the same time. Hikaru blinked.

"Sorry, go ahead." The boy now girl said in a humble manner that was rare to see. Usually Touya would have said no… you go ahead and there would have been a longer exchange while they wasted time in trying to make the other say what needed to be said first. But here he just went on as if he'd never even been interrupted in the first place.

"Akari has something to tell you. She's in the living room."

"She is?"

"Yes." And with that the taller boy walked out, leaving the other two to follow. Well this boded well. Hikaru's stomach seemed to be made of knots.

"Ne Touya…" She tried to broach the other again.

"Yes?" The tone was civil. It was polite. It did not mean it was friendly or warm or inviting. Hikaru had never understood how Touya managed to do it.

"I'm sorry for what I said this afternoon. I didn't…I didn't mean it. I was just upset with everything and…" And it sounded so lame, even to her ears. Touya's shoulders seem to hunch forward for a minute, to round themselves.

"It doesn't matter Shindo." But it did. It really _really_ did.

"Yes it does." She whispered softly. Touya sighed.

"Later Shindo." He turned to the living room. "What Akari has to say is more important." The redhead was on her knees in front of a go board. Her look of fierce concentration as she looked over the white and black stones was broken as the three entered the room. Akari looked up and a smile spread over her lips.

"Hikaru!" She got to her feet. "Did you have…" Her question trailed off into nothing as her eyes found the answer to her question. Hikaru was not changed. "Oh." She paused as she watched Touya usher the two further into the room and ask them to sit down. She sat back down again and stared at her feet for a moment before speaking. "I…uh… I went back to the first place we went to Hikaru and…" She bit her lip and looked to Touya for support. Green eyes caught hers and the paler boy nodded once. "…and…the lady there was able to give us some answers."

"Us?" Hikaru asked tiredly.

"Touya came with me." Akari said rapidly. She didn't know how her friend would take the rest of what was to come.

"What answers?" Waya asked, leaning forward. "Does she know how to get Shindo back to being a guy?"

"Yes…" Akari started and was nearly drowned out by Hikaru and Waya jumping up and down and doing a victory cheer. "Wait! It's not that simple. It's…" She looked torn. "…complicated." The two weren't listening to her at all!

"How do I turn back? What do I have to do? C'mon Akari… spit it out already!" The old Hikaru that everyone knew was back. A whirlwind of excess energy that was right now focusing on Akari alone.

"…You have to wait." Touya's voice cut into the questions.

"What?" Hikaru and Waya asked at the same time.

"What he means is that…" Akari quickly began before she could lose her nerve. "Is that it's a matter of time Hikaru. You have to wait until you experience certain things that girls go through before you can be a boy again." Hikaru sat down and stared at her childhood friend in disbelief.

"I have to what?" She asked weakly, already dreading the answer.

"What kind of experiences?" Waya asked, voice strained.

"…uh…" Akari avoided looking at Hikaru directly. "We're not too sure. It all depends on what I was thinking of when I made the wish." She took a deep breath. "But one thing is for sure… you… you…" She stuttered and turned a painful bright red.

"Spit it out Akari!" Hikaru hissed coming closer to the other girl.

"Oh Hikaru you're gonna have to at least wait until you get your period and that could take at most a month before it happens and I'm so sorry…" Hikaru paled visibly and jerked backwards as if Akari was suddenly diseased. Waya choked on the air he'd been trying to breathe and started to cough. Only Touya seemed calm out of the group. "I never meant for this to happen and I want to take it back. Please don't hate me Hikaru…" The girl continued apologizing and pleading. She was ignored though. Not out a spite or anger but simply out of shock. Dangerously pale, Hikaru managed to ask one more thing.

"Anything else…?" Akari winced.

"Everything else is just a possibility Shindo." Touya answered for the redhead.

"What are they though?" Hikaru pushed on weakly.

"Just things that girls find important I guess." At Hikaru's glare, the girl continued to explain. "First kiss or …HIKARU!" Akari shrieked as her friend simply fell to the ground in a dead faint.

A/N- Srry this is a short chapter. I'll make up for the fact by writing more in the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed. Thank you for those who keep reviewing me! It def. means a lot to me. Hugs to all.


	9. This is NOT happening

Ch.8

Hikaru woke up to find herself staring at three very worried faces. She blinked at them owlishly before groaning and closing her eyes again. "I'm having a real bad… bad nightmare." She moaned. She heard several sighs of relief and a sob. The latter, no doubt, was coming from Akari. She felt as Akari's head suddenly rested on her stomach. Her eyes opened and she would have snapped something at the girl who was know taking her for a damned pillow but stopped at the sight. Akari looked _really_ upset. It made her frown. "What happened?" She asked finally, staring back up at Touya and Waya's faces.

"You fainted Shindo and knocked your head pretty hard on the floor." Waya muttered. "How are you feeling?"

"Ok?" She said not to sure of herself. "Why did I faint?" Touya and Waya exchanged a glance.

"I think it was due to…" Waya stopped and scratched the back of his head. "I don't know to tell you the truth. I was suffocating on my own spit at the time." The redhead looked to Touya as if daring the other to answer. Touya sighed and ran a hand through his hair before answering.

"Akari was explaining to you how you could turn back to a guy."

"Oh." Hikaru blinked. "Oh! OH!" It was coming back to her now. "Oh god!" She felt sick. "This isn't fair…Why me?" The look on Touya's face stated clearly that he had no idea. Hikaru sighed and gently pushed Akari's head off of her so that she could sit up. When she saw that her childhood friend was going to either start a) crying harder b) apologizing or c) crying and apologizing, Hikaru waved her hand at her. She really didn't want to deal with girl tears again. Plus she felt like crying herself at the moment. "Don't Akari. There's nothing you can do about it and its not…" It was her fault. But… what was the point in continually blaming her? The girl obviously hadn't a clue that she could do what she had done and was… "Umph!" Hikaru huffed as Akari hugged her hard. "A-ka-ri!" She moaned. "Get off!" But the usual protests were weak to begin with. It made Waya smile and the redheaded go player looked away to hide it. "Less than a month right?" Hikaru asked weakly once Akari had finally removed herself from her. The girl nodded.

"Less than a month and Shindo will be the only man to ever know what being a girl is like." Waya snorted. "The only man in the entire universe to completely understand the way a girl's mind and body works. It'll probably be the only thing you won't remain oblivious about."

"EXCUSE ME!" Hikaru growled at the jab, knowing that Waya's teasing was simply to provoke her and to stop her from getting sad or scared.

"Kind of scary don't you think Touya?" Waya asked, completely ignoring the now seething Hikaru. Akari watched with wide eyes. Touya too looked uncertain before suddenly having it dawn on him as to what Waya was trying to do.

"Very." Touya nodded. "Shindo should not be our sempai on any subject."

"Hmm. True, true…" Waya agreed, eyes twinkling. Hikaru cursed at them both and scowled.

"I will not be your 'Sempai' on the matter of how girls think Waya! And and… as for how their body works… You ARE a PERVERT!" She sniffed at them haughtily. "What I will be your 'sempai' on is go." Touya arched an eyebrow at the challenge in Hikaru's voice.

"Excuse me?" It was Waya. "I don't think so!" Hikaru huffed.

"I already am your sempai in that department." She stated archly. The two go players glared at each other until they were face to face.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah really!"

"Really?"

"REALLY!"

Behind the two, Touya made his way to the go board and cleared it quietly. When he slammed a go stone onto its wooden surface, the two jumped startled. Both looked and saw Touya's calm but challenging green eyes.

"It'll be easy enough to find out." He stated carefully. "Nigiri Shindo."

It was several hours later that found Waya and Hikaru sprawled on the floor. Hikaru had barely managed to defeat Waya with a one moku advantage. She had lost to Touya but it had been a good game and at least had dispelled the fear that he would stop being her rival. Touya cleaned the board of the previous game and then very seriously started to reconstruct the shidou-go that he had been playing with Akari earlier.

The redheaded girl looked at the growing pattern with surprise and slight disbelief.

"That's… that's not…" She started, her eyes looking at Touya for an answer. The pale boy looked up from his work with confusion written on his face. "…the game we were playing before, is it?" Touya nodded not seeing why this was so surprising. "You're amazing." The girl then said bluntly making Waya laugh and Hikaru fume.

"Akari you're an idiot. Any professional go player… even insei can reproduce games that they've played." She snorted at her childhood friend. "There's nothing amazing at all." She looked over at the go board and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You've actually improved from the last time I played you." Hikaru scratched the back of her head and then flinched at an obviously bad move played by Akari. "…a little." She added to her comment. Hikaru sat back and looked around. "So what now?" The question caught everyone off guard. Waya was the first to react by looking down at his watch. The redhead jumped up and made an odd noise.

"Ack! Isumi is gonna _kill_ me!" He looked around in a way that clearly showed that he was lost and frazzled. "I should've been back hours ago!"

"Would you like to call him?" Touya asked, good host as always.

"Nah. I'll just run for it. I'm so late now calling will just make me later and he'll yell at me two times instead of once!" Waya moaned. "Are we gonna meet tomorrow or what?" Touya shook his head, thoughts cleared at the mention of go.

"Tomorrow I'm tutoring two of my students. And Shindo has a game in the afternoon."

"I do?" Hikaru piped in. "Oh yeah. I do. Hmmm…" She scratched her head and then tugged at her long hair. "That will be interesting."

"You'll have to bind your chest." Akari muttered, thoughtfully. "Do you have the bandages for it?" Waya made a face, blushing.

"I'll be going now." He muttered. Touya nodded and both left the room as quickly as they could. Which left Hikaru alone and defenseless against Akari's planning.

…

The next morning Akira turned around to find that once again Shindo was sleeping on his floor, curled up in a tighter ball this time. It had been cooler during the night than the last one. Akira sighed and wondered if this was going to be turning into a habit during her stay with him. He hoped not. It was quite… startling. He got up and made his way towards the smaller form. It was cold, he realized. A lot colder than he'd first thought since he'd been covered in warm blankets. He wondered again how she had managed to come in here without him waking up. Though he admitted freely that he'd gone to bed yesterday and past out without much time passing in between him climbing into bed and him closing his eyes.

Akira glanced at the clock, debating something. It was 5:30. Yesterday Shindo had gotten up around 8. Akira sighed again and then knelt in front of the girl. He didn't really know how to go about doing what he was thinking about doing. He supposed he would never if he didn't try it. He only hoped it wouldn't backfire on him…Carefully, _very _carefully he took the girl into his arms and placed her in his bed. Shindo didn't even move, just made a noise in the back of her throat. And then there was a happy sigh that left her mouth when he covered her with blankets. The noise made Akira take a step back.

"Idiot." Akira whispered at the sleeping girl. But whether he was describing Shindo or himself, he truly didn't know at this point and didn't even want to think about it. With careful steps, he made his way out of the room, his eyes showing his pensive state of mind.

His usual morning shower was cut short, a feeling of restlessness building in his chest. Akira dried himself carefully before wrapping the towel around his waist. He grabbed the smaller towel and started to run it through his shoulder length hair. His back had been turned away from the mirror, avoiding the object as if it was poison. But when he had finished toweling his hair, Akira turned to face his reflection. He looked at the pale figure that was shown behind the slightly fogged up surface. The green eyes that were watching him were serious…as always. He sighed. He knew what was bothering him. Tunelessly, he hummed a note or two of an inane song that was in his head as he took some steps closer to the mirror. He picked up his brush and slowly started the process of untangling his wet hair.

Uninvited, words of anger pushed aside the song that had been playing in his head. His humming stopped and his hands stilled. "_Ha ha… poor stupid Shindo's done it again. Why are you here anyway, helping me?"_ For a moment, the hand even dipped._ "You don't care!"_ The fingers tightened around the brush. _ "You don't even think of me as a…a….a… friend or a true opponent…!"_ Not true Shindo. He…Akira blinked. He did see Shindo as his opponent. He did see Shindo as a friend…whatever that meant. He just obviously failed at showing this.

The brush hit the counter with a dull sound, startling Akira into picking it back up and started to brush his hair. A knot was snagged and he yanked harder. It hurt. But that was fine.

He failed at many things. No one saw that though. No one was supposed to. Akira shut his eyes for a moment. _"You're just here 'cause its an easy way to make friends and look good, you bastard."_ He didn't want to hear this anymore. He really didn't. He'd heard it playing and playing and playing over and over and over again in his head since yesterday and he was sick of it. He knew. Had known that like everyone else, Shindo would not understand him. Shindo had been right…they weren't friends.

Then why was he still helping?

Why care for the other?

Why let the words haunt him, hurt him?

Cause he was stupid.

Bastard maybe but not for the reasons Shindo thought. Akira didn't care for having friends, for looking good. He was used to his loneliness. Used to a great many things… one of them included being disliked. This time when Akira let go of the brush, it was because he was truly done. He pushed the damp strands behind his ears and reached for his pile of clothes.

Thinking of all of this was pointless and time consuming. Shindo had apologized, the matter had been settled. Sure they hadn't talked about it further like Shindo had wanted to but in a small way, Akira was relived. The door handle turned and Akira looked up, blinking in surprise.

"Wh—Shindo! No!" He managed to find his voice as his mind suddenly chased the darker thoughts and caught up with reality. Reality being that he was alone in the house with one very strange house guest. Who was supposed to still be sleeping. Damn the fates.

"Hm?" The door was fully opened, revealing a sleepy Shindo. She was rubbing at one eye and looked confused. Akira felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment as he hugged his clothes to his chest in reflex. Make that disoriented. Shindo blinked at him and then blinked again and again. "ACK!" The petite girl screamed and backed away. Akira heard a thump and if he hadn't been mortified by the situation himself, would have been amused at picturing Shindo running backwards into the wall. "I didn't see _anything_!" He heard the shriek though it took him a minute to reconcile the fact that this was indeed Shindo he was hearing. What a god awful sound. Akira glanced down and huffed a slight sigh of relief as he found that his towel was still tightly wrapped around his waist. "And we're both guys anyway so it's not that big of deal…I mean… You know what I mean! Oh my god…" Akira moved closer to the door and then nudged it to a close. Shindo's voice was muffled now. "Why does this happen to _me_?"

"I don't know Shindo." Akira muttered. He heard a little squack through the door. "I'll be done in a minute."

"Fine. Fine."

…

"Fine. Fine." Hikaru was hiding her red face in her hands. How _embarrassing_! Jesus! There were some things that she had never wanted to find out about her rival. And one of them was how he looked when he was naked. Jesus. When the hell did Touya have time to get that kind of a body? He'd thought that all the other boy did was sit behind a freaking go board. Jeez… Her heart beat was hammering in her chest and she groaned. First she'd woken up in _his_ bed! And though she was pretty sure that she'd slept most of the night on the floor, she was still scared as to how she'd ended up in the bed. And now this! She bit her lip and shook her head, gently bumping it against the wall from time to time.

The door opened and Touya emerged suit in place, just missing the jacket and tie. The tie was currently in his one hand. And as Hikaru peered at him through her fingers she had the insane thought that Touya looked like one of the teen models that Akari loved to look at in those _stupid_ magazines. Touya, Akira… No way in hell. She must have hit her head so much harder than she had thought yesterday.

The taller go player seemed uncomfortable and licked his lip before stepping out into the hallway. He motioned to the bathroom. "It's free."

"Gee Sherlock… I couldn't tell." Hikaru snapped. She let her hands drop. Swallowing hard, Hikaru looked straight in Touya's face. "Sorry." She mumbled. "This was a truly weird way of waking up, ok?" She huffed a sigh and pushed her hair out of her face. "Why the hell was I in your bed?" The question was out of her mouth before she even realized she'd been thinking of asking it. Touya blinked. Hikaru blushed. The way she'd asked sounded more like she was accusing him of something. The go player straightened and crossed his arms against his chest.

"You looked cold on the floor. I was getting up anyway…" The voice was soft and it trailed off. Something in the green eyes hardened and left Hikaru feeling bewildered. "I'm sorry. Next time I'll leave you on the floor." He bowed his head, a move Hikaru was too used to seeing him use against grown ups or opponents. And then Touya was gone down the hallway.

And Hikaru was left fumbling, trying to remember how to breathe again.

She really couldn't do anything right anymore.

A bit numbly, she made her way into the bathroom and shut the door.

Minutes later, in her regular clothes, Hikaru made her way into the kitchen. She looked at Touya's back a bit timidly, her hand tightening around the brush. He turned to her, acknowledging her presence with a nod.

"Breakfast is on the table."

"Hn." Hikaru nodded in turn. She stayed where she was though, looking at him with pleading in her eyes. He'd turned his back on her for a minute, fiddling with a pot of tea. Yet perhaps due to the lack of noise going on behind him, he turned around, tensing as he noticed the look he was receiving from the girl.

"Is something wrong, Shindo?" He asked, confused. He looked around to see if there was something missing but nothing seemed out of place. And then it dawned on him as he really let himself look at the girl. Her hair was a mess and tightly clenched in her hand was his brush. "Oh." Hikaru was turning a shade of red.

"Please?" She managed to mutter.

"…of course." He followed her to the chair, taking the brush into his own hand. Was this going to become one of their rituals as well?

Perhaps.

Hopefully not for long.

He gently took a handful of her hair and started the process of untangling the mess.

Hikaru un-tensed the minute the brush was out of her hand. She even gave a happy sigh as she felt the touch and started to relax. She stayed still for the first minutes but couldn't resist moving after that. Her breakfast was sitting in front of her, looking way too appetizing to go untouched. Moving carefully, she started to eat slowly. When she didn't get any reproach for moving, she ate with more vigor.

"Delicious Touya." She muttered through two bites. "Thank you." She swallowed. "For everything. Really…" She turned her head to face him when she felt him back away. "It's done?" He nodded, silent. "Oh." She tried to hide the slight disappointment that coursed through her at that bit of information. "When do you have to leave today? Or are they coming here?" Touya checked his watch.

"Around 10." It was barely seven.

"Why do you get up so early?"

"It's a habit." Touya answered as he sat down opposite of her, steaming cup of tea in his hands.

"Do you never sleep in?" The teen in front of her considered the question.

"Not really."

"Oh." Hikaru took another bite of her breakfast. She was thinking hard about how to broach a certain subject. She pushed her plate away from her and looked at him, slightly uncomfortable. "Uhm… Touya…" He looked at her. "I have … a problem." Touya continued to simply look at her. He wasn't making this any easier on her was he? Bastard. She sighed and decided to just plunge into it. "I need help to bind my chest. I tried doing it by myself like Akari explained but it's not possible and Akari is busy today and can't come to help and I'm sorry but…" Touya actually groaned. The sound was startling and made Hikaru stop in her flow of words. That was the most impolite thing Touya had _ever_ done around her…well apart from their loud and immature bickering that sometimes took place after a go match. But that didn't count. This was different!

"You've got to be kidding me." Touya muttered through gritted teeth. This time he was the one who was hiding behind his hands. "This is _not_ happening."

"…sorry?" She sounded scared, tired and upset even to her own ears. Touya breathed in and out and then just nodded.

"It'll be fine Shindo." The boy nodded. "We'll think of something."

"I'll have a b-bra on…if that helps…" It was her turn to groan. Touya was right. This was not happening. This couldn't be happening! If she didn't end up needing massive amounts of therapy after this…she'd be surprised. Touya too would probably be scarred for life if he wasn't already.

"Can't you wear something else over that as well?" His voice was just a tad strained.

"Uh? Yeah…I could." Hikaru blinked. There was that small tank top that Akari had given her…well more like forced her to take. That would work. Yes! Yes it would. "You're smart. Huh." Some of the embarrassment started to fade. Not much but some. Touya looked at her with wide eyes.

"Shindo…" Exasperation? Tension? No one word could explain all the emotions that were expressed in the way he said her name. The sigh that followed it was the same. '_Give me strength.'_ Touya thought to himself. So much to deal with. So much stress. So much insanity. An entire month, hopefully less, to continually handle this situation. Touya looked at Hikaru feeling very helpless.

'_And to think...we're not even friends.'_

It was gonna be another long day…

A/n- ch. 9 will hopefully be posted in a couple days. :)


	10. Insight?

Ch. 9

Hikaru faced the mirror, ignoring the reddening of her cheeks. She pressed a hand on one of them and closed her eyes. Her cheeks were not only abnormally warm, they were wet. Yes, she'd cried again. Binding her chest had hurt! Fuck… She took a deep breath. The ordeal was over with finally… thank god. She didn't even want to think about what exactly had taken place. Touya had kept his word about helping her but … she shook her head. The first few minutes had been just damned awkward with her prattling on and on about how she really was a guy and it shouldn't be that big of a deal. Touya had remained quiet as he stood behind her, bandage in hand waiting for her to either calm down or for instructions. In any case, since she had shown no signs of calming down, he'd started. Without fucking warning her. She'd actually screamed when his one hand had come down and rested on her shoulder as if to pin her there.

He had then informed her rather coldly, that they _needed_ to do this or else he'd be late.

Puh-leeze! He had like three hours left before his appointment and that wasn't the point. She kept those thoughts to herself though and grabbed the end of the bandage that he'd given her so she could place it correctly. Both feeling quite mortified, they'd continued the whole process. And had had to redo it again when they'd realized that Touya, yes Hikaru was going to put the blame on him damn it, hadn't been making it tight enough.

That second trial had involved more closeness. And there'd been one incident in which Touya's hand had definitely come a bit too close to her chest. At the slight touch both of them had jumped away from each other. "S-sorry Shindo." She'd kept her mouth shut, teeth grinding together and just shook her head as if to say _it doesn't matter. Just get on with it!_ He had taken a shaky breath behind her and then come back, tightening the bandage once more and eliciting a gasp of pain from her. He would have apologized probably but they'd already had a fight over _that_! It had been annoying to be apologized to every fucking minute. She'd started to cry though. Silently. But still… she'd cried in front of Touya…again!

"Will this do?" The end of the bandage was tucked securely somewhere in her tanktop at her back. Those words had released her and Hikaru found herself not just crying silently but sobbing. Her hands had risen to hide her face.

It was over.

It was finally over.

And it still HURT!

Touya left her then. And once she'd calmed down, she'd been left to just stare at her angry looking reflection. Why'd he leave? She didn't know. Maybe the embarrassment of the situation had been a bit too much? Maybe Touya had simply had enough of her? Her throat tightened and it was hard to swallow again. Hikaru glared at herself and sniffled. She then did the mature thing to do. She stuck out her tongue at her reflection.

Footsteps announced Touya's return. She turned to face him and was startled to find a cold glass being shoved in her hand. The boy was still red in the face and had an unsettled look about him. Hikaru, to say the least, was left a bit speechless at the abruptness of it all.

"Painkillers." Touya stated in a voice that was far too gentle and concerned sounding for Hikaru's peace of mind.

Shiiiit…

She sniffled again and looked down at the glass to hide the fact that tears were forming in the corner of her eyes again.

"Shindo?" There was a shuffling, the sound of feet moving slightly as Touya shifted his weight around. "Do you want the painkillers?" He did not move closer to her though. He stayed at a healthy and safe distance from her. She couldn't answer vocally and she feared looking up. Damn these emotions. Damn him. Damn everything! "…I'll leave them here…" It was the hesitancy that suddenly sounded in his voice or maybe the fact Touya, Akira sounded defeated that caused Hikaru to look up sharply. It was _not_ the fact that Hikaru suddenly feared that he would leave her alone in this stupid bathroom with only her girly reflection to keep her company. No it had nothing to do with that. Nothing at all. Nothing to do with the sudden cold jab in her stomach or the slight speed in her heart beat. No.

"…"

"Shindo!" Touya's voice sounded shocked, scared all of sudden and slightly young. Hikaru ignored that as she continued to press her face in the back of his shirt, as she let her arms tighten around his waist, stopping him from continuing out the door like he'd been planning to. The tears that trickled down her cheeks this time were soaked in his shirt and her sobs were muffled in its folds. He was tense. She felt him move and tightened her arms in reflex, thinking he would pull her arms away. He didn't. Instead he simply and lightly patted her arm that was currently tight around his stomach. And then his hand rested around hers. He was warm. And it was soothing. He was relaxing, her mind registered slowly. She eased her grip on him as well…her mind was registering more than how Touya held himself. It was actually starting to catch up with _everything_!

"…srry…" She mumbled, biting her lip but still refusing to move away from the warmth that was her rival. At the sound of her voice, Touya stiffened slightly. Hikaru's hands released him fully and where his hand had rested, she was cold. "I just…" Well hell. How was she supposed to explain this when she didn't even know why or how it had happened? "This just sucks, you know?" Hikaru blinked again, a hand coming up to rub at her eyes. "I wish my mom was here." And then she gave a short broken laugh that bordered on hysteria. "But then again, no." Touya had turned to face her, blatantly ignoring the cold wet spot that was now on the back of his shirt.

"I understand." He said simply.

"Do you?" Hikaru asked, very vulnerable at the moment. Touya tilted his head, his green eyes focusing on her face.

"As much as I can… I think so." He sighed and then looked to the ceiling. "It is the oddest and most uncomfortable situation anyone can be placed into. You're handling it the best you or anyone ever could Shindo." Touya paused a bit, before continuing. "All this would probably be easier if I were someone you… knew better." He breathed a sigh. Hikaru shook her head.

"Nothing could make this easier." She blew some strands of hair that had started sticking to her cheeks. When they didn't move with that, she brushed them aside with the back of her hand. "I feel calmer now." She stated softly, giving a half grin towards Touya. His words had calmed her somewhat. A slow warmth had started to build within her. "And you do know me." He looked a bit startled at those words. The expression melted into something different. He smiled. It was one of his genuine smiles and it struck within her a memory of the first time they'd met. It'd been so long that she'd forgotten how he had look back then. He'd been so open, his expression clearly friendly and inviting if not a bit shy. After their first game however, that had changed. He stopped showing that side of him in their race against each other. He had stopped being a child and had become …Touya, Akira. No longer a boy but a professional go player with a reputation for being cool, dedicated, and untouchable.

Hikaru blinked and looked away. Strange. She hadn't even seen the change when it had been occurring. Why was she noticing it now?

"You'll be alright getting to the go institute this afternoon?" The question broke her from her thoughts. She snorted at him with an arched eyebrow.

"Yes. Why wouldn't I be?" He just gave her a look, smile disappearing. "I've been going there by myself since I was 12 years old. I doubt the fact that I turned into a girl will make it harder to get there."

"Its not your…sex that worries me. It's the fact that you'll be leaving to go to the go institute from my house and not yours like you usually do." Touya explained patiently, though he had that tone in his voice which meant that his patience was rapidly reaching its limit.

"I'll be fine." Hikaru continued stubbornly.

"If you say so." The taller of the two sighed and started to leave the bathroom. Hikaru glanced at her reflection one last time and scowled at it before turning away and following her rival. She fingered her hair pensively.

"Hey Touya?" She called after him and sped up to catch up with him. "What should I say to people when they ask me about my hair?" Touya had paused in his steps, glancing back. He stayed silent for awhile, only starting to walk again when Hikaru had caught up to him.

"I thought you and Akari had everything planned out?" The young man finally stated. Hikaru frowned.

"Well, we forgot about this detail here. Anyway, she was a bit preoccupied." The frown got darker. If Akari had been here this morning, things would have been so much easier. "Stupid Akari and her meeting. Stupid psychic…"

"Psychic? Did Akari go back to the psychic? Is that why she couldn't come today?" Touya asked sounding suddenly concerned.

"Uhm…yeah. You didn't know?" Hikaru scratched the back of her head. "That's why she was all preoccupied last night and didn't stay for that much longer after Waya left." The girl's finger got caught in a knot and she made a face before freeing it. Thinking that part of the conversation was over, she continued with her original concern. "I guess I could just say I got uhm…extensions. Awh man… I feel like such a girl…talking about such things." Hikaru didn't need to look up to know what kind of stare he was getting from Touya. "I know, I know… I am a girl at the moment. Stupid thing to say. But still!" There was no comment and the silence continued to surround them until it was time for Touya to leave.

Suddenly alone for the first time since everything had changed, Hikaru found herself at a loss of what to do. Her rival's concern for her childhood friend seemed to latch on to her and become her own. She looked at the phone pensively and wondered if she should call and see if Akari had come back already. The idea that Akari had gone back to see that woman so early in the morning seemed fishy all of a sudden. And why did Akari need to see her again? They'd gotten the answer they had been looking for so…? Tapping the wooden table did nothing to sooth her nerves.

Perhaps looking at kifu? She shook her head at the thought. Just call already! She snapped at herself inwardly. She would do nothing productive until she knew for sure that Akari was safe. Sighing, Hikaru pushed herself back into the chair and reached for the phone. She dialed the number with ease and then waited patiently for someone to pick up. After the third ring, a voice answered. Akari's mother. Hikaru swallowed and asked what she needed to know.

…

A couple of hours later found her and Akari sitting on a park bench not too far away from the go institute. There was still an hour left before her game and she felt her blood pound in excitement at the thought of another official game. Akari's hands were gently brushing Hikaru's hair back into a low pony tail as she explained her morning. Nothing too interesting in Hikaru's opinion so she let herself space out and just enjoy the attention she was receiving currently.

Akari made sure the band was tight enough around the hair and then let her hands drop to her lap. She giggled as Hikaru made a noise of disappointment that it was already done. She wouldn't have thought Hikaru would be like that. She tugged the end of the ponytail and then laughed out loud at Hikaru's facial expression. The other girl had grabbed her ponytail in defense but seemed at a loss as to how to protect it exactly.

"I'll stop!" Akari said between laughing. "I promise." She added at Hikaru's suspicious look.

"You're mean. That actually hurt." Hikaru rubbed the base of the ponytail.

"Well now you know what it was like for me whenever you tugged at my hair." Akari replied, not feeling guilt at all. Payback, even when she hadn't even thought of the implications of her actions at all, was sweet. Hikaru rolled her eyes.

"You never let me forget anything. You and Touya both." She sighed dramatically. At the sound of the boy's name Akari looked away, feeling a bit shy.

"How are you and Touya doing, Hikaru?" She asked softly. "I hope you were nicer to him. He is trying hard to help you." Hikaru nodded, biting her lip. Akari had a way with making her guilty and reminding her that Touya and she had not continued their little talk from the other day. Great. Another thing to worry about. The excitement of the future game was pushed aside.

"I know." The words were so faint that Akari had to lean closer to the other to hear her.

"How did this morning go?" Akari asked, deciding to drop the other subject. She gave Hikaru's side a small poke to clarify exactly what she was asking about. A sidelong glance made her smile as she saw Hikaru turn bright red.

"Don't want to think about it. Thank you very much." Hikaru grumbled. "It was a very bad morning." The girl continued. "Started with me walking in on him in the bathroom to…" She trailed off and waved at her chest. "Not fun. It was _painful_! I'm hoping that whatever I need to live through to get rid of the curse or whatnot…happens fast! Cause this is getting ridiculous." Akari blinked at the amount of information that was being thrown her way.

"You walked in on him? Naked?" She squeaked. Hikaru stood up at the question.

"Shut up! He wasn't! He wasn't! He had a towel! Ok! I didn't see _anything!_" The girl hid her face in her hands before groaning and falling back onto the bench with a loud thump. "It was horrible." Akari bit her lip, trying to keep hysterical laughter from coming past her lips. "I really _really _want to get that image out of my head."

"Was he cute?" Akari asked, barely able to keep her face straight.

"_AKARI!_" Hikaru screeched looking scandalized. "He's my rival. He's… I'm a… I'm a boy damnit!" She tried to look scary to drive in her point. "Cute is not in my vocabulary." Akari started to laugh and couldn't stop, tears building at the corner of her eyes. Her sides started to hurt as they continued to shake in what was not so silent laughter. Hikaru continued to yell and moan about the situation and then started to plead for her friend to be quiet.

It took awhile but Akari managed to stop. She sat up and wiped her face. "I'm sorry Hikaru." She muttered, seeing that the other did look upset now instead of just riled up. "It's just…so unreal." She bit her lip. "Are you ok?" The other girl pulled her knees to her chest and looked straight ahead, before speaking.

"It's ok." The words were soft. "I…I did notice how he looked. He was…" Hikaru couldn't say it. "It scares me. Akari, do you think it is because I'm a girl that I noticed how he looked?" Worried at the serious tone in Hikaru's voice, Akari floundered a bit in her response to this new situation. She'd been kidding before, she'd never thought…oh dear… this was getting complicated.

"Wouldn't you have noticed how he looked as a guy if you walked in on him like that?" Her voice was small.

"…I guess so… But I don't think I would have reacted the same way… GOD! This is bad… this is soooo bad"

"What do you mean?" Akari chose her words carefully and said them slowly, her eyes even larger than usual. She really didn't like where this was going.

"He looked really…really hot!" Hikaru hid her face again in her hands. "Like…teen model hot, the ones _you_ drool over. That's exactly what I thought when it happened. Or…at least that's what I did think after I stopped freaking out about the whole walking in on him thing and… this is bad." Akari was at a loss.

"I'm sorry Hikaru." She said weakly. "I'm so sorry." Her knuckles were white as her fists clenched tighter as they rested on her legs. "I—" _wish I could take it all back._ But the words stayed silent, ringing in her head. _This isn't what I wanted. I wanted for you to see me. See me. _"Maybe…maybe you're just seeing things the way I would see them." She offered finally. Hikaru lifted her head slightly.

"So it's just the girl thing."

"Yeah." Akari nodded adamantly. "Just the girl thing." They sat in silence for a few moments, allowing the go player to regain her composure once more and left her friend to wonder how much a simple wish had just changed all of their lives and their futures. Akari leaned back onto the bench and rested her head on her childhood friend's shoulder. She caught Hikaru's hand in her own and was surprised that Hikaru let their fingers join and play together.

"So…" Hikaru broke the silence finally, shifting slightly in her position. It made Akari sit back up and break the closeness they'd been sharing. The girl bit back a sigh as she did move away. "…if I see things the way you would. Does that mean you like Touya?"

"Eh?"

"Are we interrupting?" An amused voice sounded out from behind them making both of them jump. Akari was grateful despite her rapidly beating heart at the interruption. Waya stood there and waved a careless grin on his face. Behind him was another man, taller with dark hair.

"Idiot! You scared me!" Hikaru growled, glaring at Waya.

"Shindo? What did you do to your hair?"

"Ah Isumi. I uh… got extensions." Nervous chuckle and Hikaru tried to deepen her voice. "It's probably time for me to get to my game. I should be going! Bye guys." And with that the girl ran off, leaving the others to exchange glances with each other. Some were less confused than others however.

To be continued…

A/N-It's an update week. I really don't know when I'll be able to add more to this fic but I will try to make it soon. I definately have not abandoned it. The story is always playing in my head. Uhm…other than that? I hope you guys still enjoy it and that it brings a smile to your faces. :)


	11. Pros and Cons

Ch. 10

"What was that about?" Isumi asked slowly. Waya shrugged giving Akari a careless wave before turning around and following Shindo's rather abrupt departure.

"It's Shindo." He remarked finally as if that explained everything. It wasn't the truth, it wasn't a lie. It was perfect. Isumi gave him a strange look and then stopped in mid-step to turn back to Akari.

"Ah. Have a good day. We're sorry we interrupted your conversation." Waya rolled his eyes and snagged his elbow.

"Come on. We'll be late." He whispered amidst Akari's cheerful words of no worries. He wanted to actually talk to Shindo before they were all immersed in their games—to make sure that the kid was feeling ok. Or at least ok enough to be able to concentrate on the games. Waya had gone home yesterday and been predictably told off in Isumi fashion at being so late without warning. The rest of the night, as both tempers cooled off had been very quiet between the two boys. Waya gave him a side-glance. In fact, this had been the first time since last night that the boy had addressed him. Isumi was suspicious and a little hurt at being left out of the "something" Waya couldn't tell him about. Waya had been lost in his own thoughts, mentally preparing an action plan. He'd gotten the list from Touya about what Shindo _needed_ to do to become a girl and all the possible _maybes_. Now all they needed to do was go down that list and check the items off as they happened. Some of them, they would have to wait for it to just occur. At that thought, Waya blanched and shook his head. He didn't want to think about his friend having to go through that.

Isumi sighed and lengthened his stride. The go institute was suddenly right there and Waya could see their friend, face bright red on the stairs. A group of people were already surrounding him. Oh hell. That guy just never had a break. "What is…" Isumi started but found to his dismay and growing confusion that Waya was no longer at his side. Instead the young man was running at full speed towards Shindo. He watched as the redhead barreled into his friend and successfully got him away from the other professionals.

"Sorry-sorry. We have to get going." Waya muttered, politely enough. "Come on Shindo." And without giving the other man a choice in the matter, he pulled him inside.

"Thank you." Hikaru muttered, leaning into her friend for a moment as relief filtered into her system. "I'm so happy to be away from them, I could kiss you." She wasn't really listening to what she was saying and so was slightly surprised when Waya stopped and pulled at her arm again until they were face to face. He was scowling but it wasn't a mean or angry scowl. It was the expression he would often get when he was thinking hard about having to do something that he didn't necessarily want to do but knew that he had to. It made Hikaru blink. "What is it?"

"You can if you want to." Waya started slowly. "You'd get that out of the way, at least." Wha-at? Hikaru felt her eyes widen and her cheeks start to flush. Kiss him? Her mind recoiled at the thought. Not that Waya was repulsive or anything like that. Her mind started chattering. He was actually quite good looking but-Ew. Wait. No. Stop. Halt. Oh my god. Hikaru took a step back.

"Waya! Shindo! Are you two ok? What was going on out there?" Isumi's voice broke on his last question as he looked between his two friends. Waya let go of Hikaru's elbow and gave his best friend a smile as if nothing had just happened. Well. Nothing had happened. But. Hell… Hikaru swallowed hard. Her mind was going everywhere and screaming and cursing at the moment. She couldn't even begin to _think_. She did feel gratitude towards Isumi. Impeccable timing. She made a mental note to pay for him the next time they went to eat. Or maybe she'd make sure that he chose this time. Yeah…

"I actually don't know what the heck was going on out there…" Waya's smile turned teasing. "Care to tell us?"

"The hair." Hikaru gritted out. "They were asking about the hair and—" She waved a hand. "—something about whether it fit the dress code or something. I didn't know there was a dress code for us? And why the heck do they not bother Touya about his hair? It's long too!" She pouted. "It's not fair." Isumi shifted uncomfortably and looked like he was going to ask something but then he just shook his head. He started to walk away, silent. "Isumi?" He didn't turn their way again. Waya sighed.

"I want to tell him." He muttered. "I hate lying to him."

"I…" Hikaru started but Waya cut her off.

"I know. I understand. I just—" He made a face. "It's hard, living with him." He followed Isumi with his eyes until the other was completely out of sight before turning his attention back to Hikaru. She froze under the attention and her mind went back to what they'd-_he_'d- been talking about before. "We should go in too. The games will start soon." She expelled the breath she'd been holding in with relief. Waya chuckled at it and shrugged, knowing exactly where it was coming from. "Hey. That's cool. Believe me…" He gave a little shudder himself before nudging his friend with his shoulder. "I didn't want to kiss you either. I'm straight. And you're…" He made a motion as if to say- don't know what you are. Hikaru growled at him.

"Shut up, Waya!" She started to stomp ahead.

"Hey. Wait up."

…

Hours later, with a new win under her belt, Hikaru sat on the park bench once more. Waya and her were waiting for Akari and Touya to join them. She waited rather patiently as she finished eating an ice cream, generously paid by Waya as an apology for giving her a heart attack earlier that day. She glanced at her friend who'd already finished his ice cream and was carefully licking his fingers to get the remaining chocolate from them.

"Think Isumi will be ok?" She asked carefully. The older boy had spared them a brief smile before waving their invite away. He'd muttered something about going to lunch with Nase and left. Waya froze and then shrugged.

"Yeah. He's gotten better at handling his emotion since China." He muttered, frowning slightly. "And this will be over soon and he won't be left out or whatever." An amber glare held her in her place. "You do realize that to be normal again, you have to get certain things done, right?" Hikaru groaned.

"How can I forget them Waya?" She suddenly wasn't hungry anymore. "It's a nightmare." She sniffed and looked around for the nearest garbage can. Once spotted, she aimed and threw. Good thing she'd always been good at sports, she thought as it dove neatly into the garbage can. Only a couple of ice cream spatters touched the pavement as it flew. She ignored his cry of indignation that this had been a good ice cream and how could she waste it when he'd paid for it. "What would you do?" She asked, serious. Obviously, Waya didn't feel too uncomfortable with the matter since he'd been bringing it up the entire day. She felt comfortable enough to ask him. "Think it'd be easier to kiss a stranger or a friend?" Waya scratched at the back of his neck and made a slight face.

"Eh." He grunted. "There are pros and cons to both, you know? Kiss a stranger and well, it'll be weird and most likely disgusting for you but at least there won't be any strangeness afterwards. I mean…you don't have to see the guy ever again. Then again, since you don't know them. You don't know what they're like and you could end up with a stalker—but you'd hopefully be male again and that shouldn't cause too much of a problem. Let's see…" The redhead stretched out, placing both his hands behind his head. "You don't know where they've been, who or what they've done before."

"Oh gross Waya!" Hikaru shrieked, pushing her friend in the side. He barely budged and just glared at her.

"You asked. Want me to stop?"

"Just move on to the next category or something. Urgh."

"Fine." He ground out. His side was throbbing slightly. "Pros and cons of kissing someone you know. Well. Really, unless you tell Isumi you're kind of limited to Touya and I and you already made it clear that I'm out. So…" Hikaru was about to open her mouth when Waya sat up. "Or were you thinking that kissing someone who doesn't know about the situation and who does know you would do as well? Cause that opens up a whole other realm of cons. Like. Seriously, I would punch you if you ever did _anything_ like that and I didn't know." She found that she could only blink at him as he prattled on. He'd spent a lot of time thinking about this while she'd been busy trying to avoid it. She gave him a slightly watery smile and snorted.

"I think I get the point, Waya." She sighed and watched as sat back. His body language screamed: I have more! "No kissing a stranger. Not after all the wonderful images you've left for my mind to be completely scarred with."

"Hey. I didn't go into any detail or anything. You're the pervert for thinking anything more than what I just said." He bantered logically. Hikaru ignored him.

"And no kissing people I know who don't know about me. I will get hit."

"You got hit?" Akari's voice broke the pensive silence that was just about to settle between the two friends. "What happened?" The other girl was at her side in a heart beat, wide eyes looking her over with concern.

"I'm fine Akari. No one hit me." _Yet_. Hikaru scooted over to make room for her friend to sit by her side. "We were just discussing some options."

"Oh?" Akari pushed her hair back behind one ear and took the seat with a relieved smile. "What options."

"Hikaru's kissing options." Waya muttered with an amused grin. "Might as well get the easiest one out of the way."

"Easiest?" Hikaru felt herself twitch. "How is that one the easiest?"

"Well compared to getting your uhm… uhm…" He stammered.

"Period?" Akari added helpfully.

"Yeah. That!" Waya nodded defiantly. "Kissing will be a breeze. And you'll at least have control over it." He shook his head. "Actually…you never did go into what kind of a kiss Shindo has to experience."

"There are more than one type of kiss?" Hikaru asked quietly, eyes widening. Both Akari and Waya stared at their friend incredulously.

"Shindo, Hikaru…" Akari started aghast.

"You have got to be kidding me." Waya continued, poking the girl sitting next to him. "Hello? You are NOT allowed to turn into Touya Akira and be only about go! There's more to life than that. And I am NOT going to be the one explaining to you how many types of kisses there are and how you go about… No. I'm just not. There's no way in hell you can still be that innocent." He shook his head. "How old are you anyway? When this whole mess is over—you need to get a girl friend. End of story."

"Wa-ya!" Hikaru yelped. Waya ignored him and stared at Akari.

"He's hopeless, you do realize that, right?" Akari nodded, biting her lip. The boy snorted as he took another look at his blushing friend. "Anway, about what we'd been discussing previously…" It was Akari's turn to blush. She tugged at her skirt, smoothing the fabric before clearing her throat.

"Well…you know. The kind of kiss a girl would share with her boyfriend." Hikaru moaned.

"And that could range from peck on the cheek to making out on the couch." Waya commented dryly.

"Not a peck and not making out…" She squeaked. "Somewhere in the middle?"

"French kiss?"

"..yes..."

"Ah…uhm… Shindo?" Waya turned to look at the girl who was hiding her face in her knees. "Increase the awkwardness level in the kissing someone you know category. By a LOT." He swallowed and patted the girl's shoulder. "And check the internet for more information on kissing."

"Fine whatever. Is this conversation done yet?" Akari and Waya stared at each other and shrugged.

"Sure."

"Oh good." This was a nightmare. A ridiculous never-ending nightmare and if she ever EVER heard someone else pronounce the words I wish in front of her… well… she'd kill them. Once in a lifetime was already too much.

To be continued…

A/N- My first year as a grad student is completed. I'll hopefully have more time to write now as a consequence. I truly am sorry for keeping you guys waiting but I wanted to let you all know… this story is definitely NOT abandoned!!! 


	12. Chapter 12

Ch 11

"Did you have a good day?" Touya asked as he opened the door for her. She nodded hoping he wouldn't ask for any more than that.

"I won the game." She added as an afterthought. "Did you? Have a good day, I mean." She watched as he locked the door behind him and removed his shoes.

"It was uneventful." 'I wish mine had been.' Hikaru thought sourly. She sighed and wondered what she should do now. After Touya had joined them at the park, they had all decided that they were too tired to do much else and had gone their separate ways. That is, _after _Akari had gotten her way. Akari had managed to extract a promise from her that she'd call her mother tonight. She wrinkled her nose at the thought. She loved her mom and all but she didn't like talking on the phone with her. Eh. Ah well. It would be better to call her now while she was not worried about her son. Hikaru rolled her eyes at the thought. "Is there anything you'd like for dinner?" The question brought her out of her reverie and she shook her head belatedly. Touya had already left the entrance and was already halfway into the other side of the house. She ran up until they were side by side again.

"Not really. Can I help you?" She asked. "I feel bad. You're always cooking…" She trailed off as she saw the answer in his eyes before it was verbalized.

"No Shindo. Go rest."

"I'm fine!" She protested, wondering what Akari had told him before they had left. She'd managed to also pull Touya aside before they left as well. Hikaru frowned. "And I can cook…somewhat."

"You're a guest." Touya rebutted smoothly in a tone that allowed for no other arguments. Hikaru glared at him and was ignored. She hated when he did that!

"So what am I supposed to do?" She asked, jerking his attention back to her. He blinked at her for a moment and then away.

"I would have thought that you would want to make yourself more ah- more comfortable." Hikaru stared at him with incomprehension for a couple of minutes before the words made sense to her. Oh. She looked down at her currently flat chest. That. She could do that she supposed but the thought of having to redo it the next day made her almost whimper.

"Can't I just keep it this way?" She moaned, following him into the kitchen. "They get in the way and…and mmph." He'd placed his hand on her mouth covering the rest of the words.

"Shindo, I really don't want to know." He muttered, red in the face. "It's up to you to decide."

"Mmrph…urgh Touya!" She glared. "Don't do that!" She placed her arms against her chest. "Well it's staying on then!" She took a couple steps back and jumped onto the nearby counter. She was surprised when it just got her a leveled glare from her rival. He must be tired, she thought wearily.

This didn't help her however. Hikaru was at a loss of what to do with herself. She didn't want to play go at the moment especially not when Touya wouldn't be her opponent. She also didn't want to spend her time watching him cook. Take a walk? No. She discarded the option with a minute shake of her head. Read a book? Big no. She just wasn't in the mood. She gave a huge sigh, already mentally kicking herself for what she going to ask about next. "Ne Touya?" The other was flipping through a cook book. He glanced up at her and regarded her solemnly.

"Yes?"

"Do you have the internet?"

…

Stupid Waya. Stupid _stupid_ Waya! She was going to kill him when she saw him next. She truly was. This had been a horrible idea. Searching on the internet for more information on kisses. She grumbled under her breath. Couldn't it have been just easier to watch one of those girly romantic comedies and take notes or something? She thought about that and groaned. No. That wouldn't have been fun either! The only good thing about this situation was that Touya was downstairs and couldn't see what she was searching.

Types of kisses.

Seriously. This was messed up.

She'd found one site that listed a bunch of types…all of which assumed already that the viewer had a basic knowledge of other types of kissing. Like French kissing. Hikaru scowled. There were pop kisses, tongue teases, butterfly kisses (which didn't even involve lips as far as Hikaru was concerned and there was no way in heck she would flutter her eyelashes at anyone thank you very much), vacuum kisses, nip kissing, suck kissing, and even spiderman kisses among many, many others. What the heck. Eskimo kisses? Hikaru pressed her face closer to the computer screen to read the definition. Oh. Rubbing noses. Ok… She clicked the back arrow and found herself staring at the list of links had so generously come up with. She moved the mouse and clicked on the next one. God. Another long list of types. And yes, yes there were some new ones here. It made Hikaru's head spin. She scrolled down the list. At least this site had them alphabetically arranged. She just needed to know what French kissing was and then… ah there it was! Finally.

_French Kiss_

_……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………._

_The kiss involving the tongue. Some call this the "Soul Kiss"_

_because the life and soul are thought to pass through the mouth's breath in the exchange across the tongues._

That was it? That was the only description they gave? That was such bull. And hadn't she already read a type of kiss called the Tongue kiss? How was that any different? She looked at the rest of the site, a frown growing steadily on her face. Well here was the Tongue Kiss…She knew she'd seen it before. She looked at the definition. You had to—She would have to—She was going to kill Akari. Sucking on somebody's tongue while it was in her mouth? At least it didn't involve biting or growling like some of the others she supposed. She started to scroll back up. Her research was done. Finished. Completed. She had a good enough picture in her mind of what the kiss would comprise even if she wasn't quite sure of how it would work and who her partner would end up being. A name caught her attention as she skimmed the rest of the page one last time. A "caterpillar kiss". What was that? Curiosity piqued, Hikaru leaned forward again despite herself.

"Shindo?" Touya popped his head in. "Dinner's ready." He was not ready for the screech that pierced the air nor for the sight of Hikaru flinging herself towards the computer screen, her smaller body covering it from him. "Uh." What the heck could one say to that?

"Touya!" Hikaru glared at the man. Damn him for being so quiet. What was wrong with him? "Warn me before starting to speak like that! You just gave me a heart attack."

"And I fear you've made me permanently deaf." He remarked dryly. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not doing anything at all!" She screeched again and winced at the sound of her own voice. "I was just…I was just researching something." She tried again, lowering her voice. He stared at her pointedly.

"What kind of research?" He looked suspiciously at the screen she was still blocking and she blushed, probably making matters worse. She took a step away from the computer and waved at it weakly. She'd been defeated once more. This was _not_ one of her lucky days. Scratch that… it wasn't her lucky month. Period.

"It was Waya's idea and Akari agreed it was a good one." Touya didn't seem to be inclined to come nearer to her and inspect the computer screen. So she sighed before elaborating. "Kissing research." He froze where he was, looking more tense than she'd ever seen him look before.

"Ah." Ah indeed she thought darkly, beyond embarrassed now.

"I was done. Just let me click off the internet." Hikaru turned her back on him and did as she told him. As they walked together down to the kitchen, Hikaru broke the silence with an impish grin on her face. Heck. If she had to deal with being so embarrassed…someone had to as well. And who better than her rival? "Ne Touya? Do you know what a caterpillar kiss is?" She bit her lip to keep from laughing at the perplexed look on his face.

"No." He sighed out. "But I have a feeling you're about to let me know."

"Yep. It's when two people rub their eyebrows together."

"Ah…interesting Shindo."

"Mmhmm, I thought so." She paused and tilted her head, taking in her companion. The impish grin came back full force as she saw a chance at teasing her rival like she'd never done before. "Ne…do you know how many types of kissing there are, Touya?"

"No. How many?" The mature voice sounded slightly defeated. The rest of dinner proved to be quite amusing for Hikaru though she doubted it was for Touya. The amusement she gained helped her relax her deeply frayed nerves and it was like he sensed it. He played along, not once letting irritation show.

Later that night, Hikaru lay on a make-shift bed on the floor of Touya's room. Touya had made it without giving her much say in the matter, declaring that he was sick of waking up to find her in the room with him—usually shivering from cold. She'd watched with wide eyes as her 'bed' was made and had chosen to be silent. It was comfortable. Touya definitely knew how to take care of someone. She'd made an off hand comment that he'd make someone really happy which had been ignored with practiced ease. As Hikaru shifted deeper into her covers, she glanced toward where her rival lay. He was sleeping already the lucky bastard. He looked so peaceful…His hair for once not perfectly positioned. Her eyes moved downwards and paused at his lips. What would it be like? When she realized where her thoughts were heading, Hikaru shot out of bed and ran out into the hallway. She didn't stop running until she found the phone and reached for it as if it was an anchor to her fading sanity. She quickly dialed Akari's number with shaking fingers and waited impatiently for the girl to pick up. When she was sure it was her friend on the other line, she wailed. "Why couldn't you have wished for a freaking Eskimo kiss?"

And hung up.

To be Continued…

A/N- Hello again! I'm back with more. Sorry it was short! It just ended so nicely the way it was…This chapter was a fun one to write. I made Shindo very naïve to increase the humor and I hope it turned out ok. I did do the google search exactly as was described to make it more realistic… and therefore none of the kisses mentioned come from my imagination and were described from various pages including wikipedia. 


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